AFOLABI

AFOLABI

Nigerian singer Gabriel Oche Amanyi, popularly known as Terry G, has declared that he sings for “the devil.”

He claimed that secular musicians don’t glorify God but the devil.

The ‘Akpako’ master spoke in a teaser of the upcoming episode of The Honest Bunch Podcast making the rounds on social media.


He said, “I am a secular musician. I sing for the devil. We [secular musicians] sing for the devil, we praise the devil. We don’t glorify God.”

Terry G also said most Nigerians can’t relate to Wizkid’s songs because of his new music style.

“Wizkid music no dey too relate to us. My colleagues from my set, most of us are illiterates,” he said.

Mrs. Yuki Gambaryan, the wife of Tigran Gambaryan, one of the Binance executives held in custody by the Nigerian government, has appealed to the United States government for assistance in securing her husband's release from detention in Nigeria.

Yuki made the call through the US Senator, Cory Booker, and Congresswoman Sara Jacobs, who led a delegation to President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday at the State House.

In a statement made available to journalists, she said, “For more than 30 days, the Nigerian government held my husband without charging him with any crime.

 

“Then, they charged him with being responsible for the unsubstantiated actions of his employer rather than having negotiations with the company in a manner in line with international norms.

“Simply put, my husband is being held as blackmail. As these members of Congress are travelling across Nigeria, I am calling on them to push the Nigerians to release Tigran and continue their investigation directly with Binance through appropriate channels.”

SaharaReporters had reported that Gambaryan sued the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu and the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the alleged violation of his fundamental rights.

Gambaryan in the originating motion dated and filed on March 18 by his lawyer, Olujoke Aliyu, from Aluko and Oyebode Law Firm, sought five reliefs before Justice Inyang Ekwo.

Also, Nadeem Anjarwalla, Binance’s Africa regional manager who escaped from lawful custody on March 22, filed a separate right enforcement suit before Justice Ekwo.

SaharaReporters had also reported that the Office of the NSA had confirmed the escape of one of the detained executives of Binance, Nadeem Anjarwalla from custody.

 

In February, Gambaryan, a US citizen and the head of financial crime compliance at Binance, and his colleague Nadeem Anjarwalla, who has escaped from custody, were detained by the Nigerian government for financial and other related offences.

The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi, has said hunger and famine await Nigeria if farmers are denied access to farms by bandits and terrorists.

Obi, who was reacting to publications and the international agency’s warning on the matter, said the alarm should be given adequate attention.

“I just read on the daily this morning, about the concerns being expressed by stakeholders in our agriculture sector over the worsening food insecurity in Nigeria,” he wrote on X.


“I have remained consistent in public voicing out my worries over this growing food crisis, which has even continued to claim the lives of our fellow citizens.

“I do believe that the urgency required to address these issues cannot be over-emphasized.

“The report this morning reads, in part, “The number of food-insecure Nigerians increased significantly, from 66.2 million in Q1 2023 to 100 million in Q1 2024 (WFP, 2024), with 18.6 million facing acute hunger and 43.7 million Nigerians showing crisis-level or above crisis-level hunger- coping strategies as of March 2024.

“While the above report gives an understanding of the present and impending food crisis looming large on the nation, the present realities show that we are already in a worse situation than is presented in the report.

“An earlier similar report by Cadre Harmonise stated that about 31.5 million Nigerians are projected to face acute hunger by the June-August of this year.

“What is now very worrisome is that many Nigerians have lost their lives in their quest to find food, reflecting a very acute level of hunger not yet captured in the media. We are gradually descending to the level of the survival of the fittest, where, driven by hunger and a quest for survival, one loses every sense of order to do the unthinkable.

“With the recurrent bandits and terror attacks on farmers, many of them have abandoned their farms. It is reported that in a state like Sokoto, farmers have paid an accumulated sum of N3 billion in ransom to bandits, others pay as high as N100,000 to bandits to gain access to their farmlands. About 165 farmers have reportedly lost their lives to insecurity this year alone.

“It is, therefore, a matter of urgency, for the government to solve the problems of insecurity in the country. This will in turn reduce the problems of food insecurity when farmers safely return to their farms. A New and hunger-free Nigeria is POssible.”

The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, has said rehabilitating the Third Mainland and Carter bridges in Lagos will cost N21 billion and 25 billion, respectively.

Umahi disclosed this during a Friday tour of key infrastructure projects in Lagos with the National Assembly Joint Committee on Works.

The Minister said there is a need to declare an emergency on the two bridges to avert a reconstruction cost of N6 trillion.


He warned of the substantial financial and safety risks posed by continued delays of the rehabilitation works.

“The cost of rehabilitation of the Third Mainland Bridge is estimated at N21 billion.

“…I want the National Assembly to note that this is the worst of our challenges on these two bridges. The cost of rehabilitation of Carter Bridge is N25 billion”, he stated.

Zack Orji

 

The National President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, Chief Ejezie Emeka Rollas, MON, has expressed gratitude to President Tinubu for his fatherly intervention on the health of the ailing Zack Orji who has departed to the United Kingdom for post-surgery assessment.

Rollas also commended the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu for her motherly care towards the veteran actor as well as the son of the President, Seyi Tinubu for his inflicting support.

He equally thanked Minister for women affair Barr. Uju Kennedy Ohanenye for her relentless efforts in ensuring that Zack Orji gets back on his feet as soon as possible and Orji’s longtime friend, Ahmed Bala for standing by him all through the period.

According to him, “We have witnessed the unprecedented support that President Tinubu is giving to the creative industry which has clearly shown his clear determination to uplift the sector to be more relevant and beneficial to both the practitioners and the national economy and we find it necessary to appreciate him.”

Rollas had earlier expressed profound gratitude to President Bola Tinubu on the appointments of an AGN member, Ali Nuhu, Managing Director of Nigeria Film Corporation and other key professionals such as Dr. Shaibu Husseini, Director General of National Fim and Video Censors Board and Obi Osika, Director General, Council for Arts and Culture.

Recall that days back, it was rumoured that Zack Orji was no more. But the leadership of AGN later debunked the viral report.

Going by the new capital requirements released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for commercial, non-interest and merchant banks on Thursday night, 25 banks operating in Nigeria would need to raise not less than N3.894 trillion in fresh capital to meet up with the new minimum capital base.

This is as the apex bank have been cautioned to watch out for inflows of illicit funds that may be directed towards the capitalisation bid of the banks.

Having mentioned late last year at the Bankers Dinner in Lagos that the apex bank would beworking on a recapitalisation bid for the banking industry to cater to the $1 trillion economy that is being targeted by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu led government, the Dr Olayemi Cardoso-led CBN made good its word with a steep increase in the required capital base for commercial, non interest and merchant banks in the country.

According to the new requirement, commercial banks with international licenses are required to have a capital base of N500 billion while their national and regional counterparts are required to have capital base of N200 billion and N50 billion respectively.

Similarly, the capital base of national non-interest banks were raised to N20 billion while that of regional non-interest was raised to N10 billion. Merchant banks capital base was also raised to N50 billion.

LEADERSHIP findings showed that while the fate of some banks with holding company structure are not fully clear, nearly all the banks with the exception of the two regional non interest banks met the new capital base. Taj Bank and Lotus Bank both have currently more than the N10 billion that is required for them to continue operation.

In total, the 25 banks surveyed by LEADERSHIP showed a cumulative N2.049 trillion in paid up capital and share premium. This means that the banks would be needing a total of N3.894 trillion to meet up with the new capital base should they decide against mergers, acquisitions and reclassification.


Speaking on the capital base, Head of Financial Institutions at Agusto & Co, Ayokunle Olubunmi noted that whilst the recapitalisation bid will see another interesting couple of years in the banking industry, the CBN has to be cautious in ensuring that the industry is not flooded with illicit funds.

According to him, the apex bank will have to shore up its oversight and regulatory functions to ensure that flow of funds from terrorism, corruption and illicit proceeds are not laundered through the recapitalisation of banks.

“The CBN will have to ensure that proceeds from drugs and terrorism does not come in. Secondly, the CBN also need to ensure that it recapacitate itself such that they have the tools, the capacity to supervise the bank of such sizes. Because one major thing we have realised is that after the recapitalisation exercise, CBN is not able to supervise those banks and those are the things they should watch out for.

“And on the part of the bank, the banks need to be careful because if they are not careful with the merger and acquisition and other events that may come again, they need to be carefully that they don’t have a marriage of strange bedfellows. They need to ensure that the person they bring onboard is someone they have the same vision with, because that can ultimately kill the brand.”


Olubunmi stated that whilst everyone was expecting recapitalisation, “the format which the CBN went about it is not what everybody expected. Everybody was thinking about shareholders fund but they surprised everyone by coming from the angle of paid up capital instead of shareholders fund that was traditionally used. All the banks will be required to actually go to the market and raise capital.

“But the banks have two years, it is not something that if they don’t do it now, they will be in trouble. The other thing is that this is just the beginning and I’m sure that will there will be a lot of engagement. The banks will push back, particularly with the paid up capital, they will push back and may even ask the CBN to add retained earnings to it.

“If the CBN sticks to its decision, the banks will have to bring in institutional investors, and some will either merge or leave the industry. There would also be the option of scaling down to meet the recapitalisation so it is a lot of interesting times ahead

“Another thing is that the CBN wasn’t to use this to galvanize the inflow of dollars. because each of the banks will need the money required for recapitalisation and may have to source for investors outside the country, increasing the inflow of dollars that will help the industry.

On her part, Group head of Global Markets at Parthian Partners, Ronke Akinyemi said the new bank recapitalisation requirements by the CBN is a step in the right direction as it will eventually result in a more robust financial system. Though steep, we believe the time frame given will allow room for the current banks to meet the requirements before the deadline.

“Ultimately, we envision that this new recapitalisation requirement will result in increased foreign direct investments which will in turn help to stabilise the naira, thus we expect to see rounds of capital raises especially with the restrictions of the capital requirement to share capital and share premium. In addition, we envisage that there will be mergers between tier 1&2 banks and also among tier 2 banks to meet this new requirements.”

Speaking on this, the vice president, Highcap securities Limited, Mr. David Adnori said that the new capital base will be judged by the combination of the paid-off capital and share premium.

He noted that a lot of the banks that have large reserves and they will need to capitalise on their reserves, by converting them into paid-off capital, saying that if a lot of the banks do that, a lot of them will massively surpass that figure.

Adnori noted that the emphasis is mainly on banks with international operations and one can see the rationale behind the huge increase for those commercial banks with foreign exposures through their foreign operations because of the depreciation of the naira.

He pointed that a lot of those banks already have a lot of amount in their reserves which become capitalized. But some of them have also opted to go afresh, to raise fresh capital from the capital market, to increase their paid-up capital base.

He added that the fear now is that if a lot of them besiege the capital market to raise capital, then they will be crowding out funds from the real productive sector that has a serious shortage of capital.

“So, one would actually have expected that public policy should be aimed at shifting capital to recapitalise the productive sector, and not again to shift capital from the economy to the banking sector that is already well capitalized,” he said.

The doyen of the Nigerian Exchange Limited, Rasheed Yusuf, said stated that the local bourse can support such a major capital raise, even without the presence of foreign investors.

An economy and capital market analyst, Rotimi Fakayejo said “the market will support it with the deadline of 24 months. At such a time, Foreign Portfolio Investors would have started returning to the market gradually.”

Based on this, under the commercial banks with international authorisation of N500 billion; Access Bank, Fidelity Bank, FCMB, First Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Union Bank, United Bank for Africa and Zenith have with a total amount of paid-up capital and share premium to be N251.81 billion, N129.71 billion, N125.29 billion, N251.34 billion, N138.19 billion, N148.09, N115.82 billion, and N270.75 billion, respectively. This shows that the institutions will be raising capital to meet up with the new capital base of N248.19 billion, N370.30 billion, N374.71 billion, N248.66 billion, N361.81 billion, N351.91 billion, N384.19 billion, and N229.25 billion, respectively.


Also, out of the Commercial Banks operating all over the country, EcoBank Nigeria met the new capital base as the Bank’s issued share capital and share premium stood at N353.51 billion exceeding the N200 billion new capital base. The paid-up capital and share premium of CitiBank Nigeria Limited (N14.44 billion), Polaris Bank (N50.43 billion), Stanbic IBTC Bank (N109.26 billion), Standard Chartered Bank Limited (N45.42 billion), Sterling Bank (N57.15 billion), Titan Trust Bank (N29.20 billion), Unity Bank (N16.33 billion), and Wema Bank (N15.13 billion) will be adding a new capital of N185.56 billion, N149.57 billion, N90.74 billion, N154.58 billion, N142.85 billion, N170.80 billion, N183.67 billion, and N184.87 billion respectively

Meanwhile, under the regional non-interest banking with a new capital base of N10 billion, TAJ Bank and Lotus Bank met the requirement by N14.06 billion and N13.03 billion respectively.

Based on the stipulation of the CBN, Access Corporation, the parent company of Access Bank has paid-up capital and share premium of N251.811 billion according to its 2023 full-year result released yesterday hence a shortfall of N248.189 billion.

FBN Holdings, the parent company of FirstBank has paid-up capital and share premium of N251.3 billion, hence a shortfall of N248.66 billion, according to its Q3’23 results. The paid-up capital and share premium of GTHoldco, the parent company of GTBank stands at N138.186 billion as of Q3’23, hence a shortfall of N361.814 billion

UBA has paid-up capital and share premium of N115.815 billion, hence a shortfall of N384.185 billion according to its Q3’23 Zenith Bank has a paid-up capital and share premium of N270.745 billion, hence a shortfall of N229.255 billion.

When William Wilberforce and other abolitionists achieved their aim of ending slavery, little did they know that this act of man’s inhumanity to man would continue in other forms, long after they had departed this world.

 

Similarly, in the early 60s, Herbert Marshall McLuhan, a globally-acclaimed scholar of media studies posited that the world would soon become a global village, where electronic media predominates as the world gets more digitally connected with new technologies driving connectivity and making experience sharing easier than before. 

However, McLuhan did not see how the baser elements in society would take advantage of the global village for pecuniary benefits. One such area is human trafficking, where perpetrators have used visual technologies to paint rosy pictures of life in other climes, with the intent of luring undiscerning people into conditions from which only the perpetrators can profit.

In particular, traffickers have taken advantage of increasing unemployment, worsening mass poverty and economic crisis in Nigeria, to cajole hordes of people to Ghana and other countries, for personal gain

As the world gets more digitally connected than ever before, human traffickers are taking advantage of the increasing rate of unemployment, mass poverty and economic crisis in Nigeria, to export droves of her citizens to Ghana and other West Africa countries, for personal gains.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, said Nigeria has the highest number of unidentified victims of trafficking in West Africa.

Investigation revealed that not less than 180 Nigerian youths board vehicles weekly, from the ECOWAS garage located at Mile-Two, on the Lagos-Badagry expressway, Nigeria, where vehicles conveying passengers to the Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Morocco and other West African countries, are stationed.

A good percentage of these youths : males and females between 19 and 35 years, were discovered to be heading for the Republic of Ghana, either on the promise of a scholarship to study in some tertiary institutions or job opportunities.

But they realize too late, upon arrival, that they are victims of human trafficking for cybercrime. 

 

Victims’ ordeal

One of the victims who was rescued by the Ghanaian authorities in 2023, Gladys Osayande, was traced to Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria, said she was lured through fake job recruitment to Ghana.

The 28-year-old lady said , “ the traffickers resorted to various forms of physical torture and abuse to coerce us into Business Email Scam, BEC and cybersex.

“They made us pose as management staff of a corporate network to convince targets into sending money to an account. Targets were usually companies that used wire transfer to pay international clients.

“I was fed twice a day, by 12 noon and 10 pm. I worked all day on the internet. I was given a target to make at least $10,000 a week. If I didn’t make it, the sanction was starvation for two days. In addition, they would invite some men to have sex with me, while they streamed the process and downloaded it in porn apps in exchange for an undisclosed amount. I was told that was the only way to make up for the target I failed to meet.”

For the males, they would spray tear gas into their eyes and  use electric shocks on them. I was among those rescued by the Ghana’s Economic and Organized Crime Office, EOCO in collaboration with the Ghana Police in Accra, in 2023″.

 

Another victim

Another victim, was 23- year-old Uchedun Ndidi, who hails from Ohii community in Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo State. She left her home town for the first time in 2022, after receiving an offer of admission via email, to study Communication in a popular university in Ghana.

She ”I arrived Accra, Ghana on March 3, 2022. A man who identified himself as Abeiku came to pick me up in a car to an apartment he said was a hostel. He told me they had done the online registration on my behalf. I believed him because when I checked the school’s calendar online, it corresponded with the information they gave.

“Besides, they said I would pay just 20 percent of the school fees which was N80,000 and that I could spread the payment in four installments before the end of the session. I jumped at the offer because it was cheaper than what I would have paid in any of the Nigerian universities. Besides, it came at a time when an indefinite strike was embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.

“ The next morning, I quickly got up to take my bath and get ready for school but another man whom we called boss, came in, took the cash meant to pay my fees from me, with my luggage.

“Without any explanation, he took me to a room upstairs where there were many laptops. Immediately he entered, everyone stood up and chorused: ‘Good morning boss.’ He walked with an air of arrogance to a corner and beckoned on me to come. Thereafter, he instructed one of the young men in the room to put me through. They taught me how to work on some of their social media apps and how to lure men from any part of the world with whom I would go into a fake online relationship, to scam them with fake business proposals.

 

“They created a new Facebook page for me and posted my real picture on it. They changed my name to Louisa Hamadou, a Cameroonian studying in Ghana. They had over 15 corporate bank accounts where money was paid into.

“ Three of us, all females , attempted to escape once. We were beaten and starved for days. We were drugged and gang-raped, while the process was streamed live for cybersex. From that day on , we were forbidden to speak with each other.

“We were only allowed to sleep for three hours a day. Those hours of rest were broken into 30 minutes each, both in the day and at night. I was only allowed to speak with my widowed mother once a week, under supervision and I was forbidden to tell her the true position of things. 

Escape at last

“ In January 2023,  I saw them rushing out of their rooms. This was after the ‘boss’ received a telephone call. In his deep baritone voice, he ordered in pidgin English: ‘Everybody find your way o. Officer just call, him say Ak dey come o ( Everyone should escape. I just got a call that policemen were on their way here.).

“ One of them came back, ordered three of us- all females ,  to follow him.    

We entered the car without carrying our bags. They dropped us off in the middle of nowhere, threw some wads of naira notes and Ghana cedis at us and told us to find our way, that the Police were after us..

“ We left Ghana that night for Togo, for fear of being arrested. Next day, we boarded a vehicle  from Togo to Benin Republic and thereafter, to Nigeria. On reaching home, I fell sick and was diagnosed with an overdose of drugs which I suspected was put in my food and drinks back in Ghana to keep me awake.”

Emerging trend

Director-General of the  National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP,  Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi,  described this trend as alarming, while discussing emerging trends in human trafficking for the year 2024, at the agency’s headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory.

She  said:  “As part of our comprehensive enlightenment strategies to equip Nigerians with timely and accurate information to reduce their vulnerability, we have received reports indicating that traffickers have adopted new tactics to lure unsuspecting victims, predominantly to Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, and other West African nations.”

She continued: “Under the guise of lucrative employment opportunities in gold mining and oil companies, victims are enticed with promises of monthly incomes as high as nine hundred dollars ($900.00), which, as always, are blatant lies. Victims are often instructed to bring about eight hundred and fifty thousand naira (N850,000) for documentation and other logistical expenses. Upon arrival at their destination, traffickers confiscate this money with the victims’ phones and other personal belongings.”

 
 

Porous borders

The Seme and Idiroko borders in Lagos and Ogun states in the South-West region of Nigeria, have been identified as the commonly used borders by human traffickers to convey victims to Ghana by road, because of the porous nature of the borders.

Victims are also trafficked through the waterways of Ode Jetty in Lagos en-route Benin Republic, to Ghana.

While the English language could also be attributed to the choice of Ghana as the destination point for human trafficking for cybercrime, investigation during a two-day visit to the Seme and Idiroko borders revealed that border security and control are being compromised by some security officials.

Corrupt practice such as bribery by the different border security officials, was evident. Some of these officials of government institutions collect between N3,000 and N15,000 ( $2 – $10) from travellers, especially those without travel documents, at the exit points.

They employ civilian agents who act as intermediary between them, the traffickers and the trafficked persons, to collect this bribe which waives off checking of travelling documents. Most times, these civilian agents are drivers  conveying trafficked persons to Ghana.

 
 

In some cases, trafficked persons are taken through illegal and unmanned routes through both borders, into Benin Republic from where they will board the next available vehicle to major cities in Ghana.

Victims taken through these illegal routes are those promised scholarships to study in Ghana. They are made to believe that the decision to take the routes is to cut down on transportation cost.

Officials mum

Several attempts made to get reactions from the Nigeria Immigration Service ,NIS responsible for border security and migration management, on why victims were taken freely through the land border without travel documents, failed, as this reporter was told to wait endlessly for response.

During a visit to the NIS, Lagos State Command, in Ikoyi ,Lagos, on February 15, 2024, the spokesperson, Deputy Superintendent of Immigration, DSI, Ego Esemena, could not attend to this reporter as she was busy with her boss who played host to senior officers from other services.

She promised to attend to this reporter  later but never did as several calls and text messages sent at different times to her were not responded to.

 
 

The same was the case with the NIS national spokesman, DCI Adedotun Aridegbe, as he did not pick his calls or respond to the text messages sent on several occasions , until he was replaced by an officer who was yet to be officially announced as at March 20,2024.

But when contacted, the Nigeria Police Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said, “We are working with the Nigeria Immigration Service and Nigeria Customs Service to address some of the security challenges along our border corridors in Nigeria. The Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun and the Comptroller General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, will embark on some on-the-spot assessment of our border communities and routes soon. We will update you accordingly. Human trafficking and other criminal activities at borders will be collectively tackled as soon as possible”.

Arrests

Not less than 100 Nigerian victims have so far been rescued in three years, according to a collation of published reports on arrests made at different times in three years by Ghanaian authorities.

Among these arrests were two Nigerians alleged to be engaged in human trafficking for cybercrime in Ghana. Their arrest was effected by the Central Regional Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Ghana Police Service, GPS at Gomoa Pomadze.

Ghanaian Regional Police Public Relations Officer and Head of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, DSP Irene Oppong, in a report published by Ghana News Agency, revealed that 39 victims, all Nigerians in their twenties, were rescued in the process, adding that thirty-six laptops were retrieved from the house. 

Sixteen of these suspects, all Nigerians, were deported by the Ghanaian Government for the same offence, in 2022, according to the former Comptroller, Seme Border Command, Nigeria, Dr. Chukwuemeka Dike.

In 2023, data released by the NIS revealed that 522 suspected migrant smugglers were handed over to NAPTIP . Of this number, 12 suspected traffickers were recommended for prosecution.

In addition, four suspected traffickers were repatriated from Ghana and handed over to the NAPTIP, in 2024.

But sources at the NIS information office disclosed during an earlier visit to its headquarters in Sauka, on Abuja International Airport Road, Federal Capital Territory, that there were no available data on Nigerians arrested for trafficking victims from Nigeria into forced cybercrime in Ghana, from 2021 to 2023.

Prosecution

Trafficking of Nigerians to Ghana for cybercrime still goes on with impunity due to the slow prosecution process. Findings revealed that when suspects are granted bail in court, they  continue  with their stock-in-trade, capitalizing on the slow court procedure. 

Such cases take one year or more before judgment is passed. The delay sometimes could be due to the transfer of Judges handling the matter to other states, or another court. And the new Judge will have to start hearing of the case all over again.

At other times, victims get frustrated due to the long process and may decide to discontinue with the case, either out of threat and coercion by suspects or lack the fund needed for the logistics of judicial process. With this, the whole process is jeopardized.

At different times the NAPTIP had advocated for a special court that would handle its cases , in order to address this challenge.

Institutions like Expertise France, a French public agency with funding from the European Union ,initiated the ALTP Project to support the authorities and civil society in six Gulf of Guinea countries (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria and Togo) in the fight against human trafficking, with a view to assisting them meet up with the 2030 planned year of ending modern slavery.

The Police in Zamfara State have apprehended seven suspected killers of Sheikh Abubakar Hassan Mada after he was taken to an unknown destination in the name of answering some questions.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Shehu Muhammad Dalijan who paraded the suspects before journalists and members of the Izalatul Bidi’a wa’ikamatus Sunnah, said the operatives arrested a certain Kabiru who was one of the terrorists who attacked Kasuwa Daji, where they burnt a police operational vehicle and attacked the residence of the former chairman the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Zamfara State.

CP Dalijan disclosed that the Police have also nabbed two suppliers of ammunition to one terrorist kingpin, Bashari, who has been operating in the Shinkafi and Kaura Namoda axis of Zamfara State.

The suspected suppliers of the ammunition were identified as Anas-Ruwa Tukur and Tijjani Aliyu.

The Police Commissioner assured that the police would charge all the suspects to court for diligent prosecution to ensure justice, and to serve as a deterrent to others.

The Police vowed to rid the state of criminals and criminalities and restore peace for the people to go about their normal activities without hindrances.

Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State has approved N2.19 billion as subsidy for the 2,290 intending Muslim pilgrims from the state for the 2024 hajj.

The governor said the action is to facilitate the beneficiaries’ religious obligations and enhance their welfare in the holy land.

He explained that the move was sequel to the recent announcement by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCOM) on the adjustment of the 2024 hajj fare where intending pilgrims are to pay an additional N1.918 million.

Against this backdrop, Governor Mohammed said his administration has resolved to subsidize each pilgrim with the sum of N959,025 which stands as 50 percent of the additional fare for the 2,290 intending pilgrims from the state.

In a statement issued by his media side, Comrade Mukhtar Gidado, the governor said he had approved the immediate release of the sum of N2.196 billion for the payment of the fare subsidy.

He said the development underscored the government’s commitment to ensuring that Muslim faithful in Bauchi State have the opportunity to fulfill their sacred duty of performing the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, one of the five pillars of Islam.

He said, “By subsidizing the hajj fare, the government aims to alleviate the financial burden on intending pilgrims, thereby enabling more citizens to participate in this revered religious obligation. This initiative also aligns with the government’s efforts to promote inclusive governance and ensure that every citizen has equal access to opportunities and resources.”

The governor charged the intending pilgrims to perform the hajj with sincerity, devotion, and reverence.

He reaffirmed the government’s unwavering support for the religious freedom and practices of all citizens and pledged to continue working towards the welfare and development of the state.

King Charles' funeral plans are already set amid his battle with pancreatic cancer.

Though he has been the British monarch for only 18 months, following his ascension to the throne on May 6, 2023, plans have been laid out for the eventual demise of King Charles III.

When Queen Elizabeth II died, Operation London Bridge was activated to facilitate the smooth transition of power to her son, then-Prince Charles.

Now, with Prince Charles' cancer getting worse, royal insiders tell In Touch that Charles’ final resting plans are of timely prioritization.

The plans have been dubbed “Operation Menai Bridge”, named after the world's first iron suspension bridge in Anglesey, Wales.

“It’s a fairly common thing to do among the British royalty, but in Charles’ case expediency is necessary,” says the source, who notes that “some courtiers believe Charles’ cancer is worse than they’re making it out to be.”

"Operation Menai Bridge” is set to include familiar protocols. When the monarch dies, Charles’ body will be moved from the throne room at Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall. He will lie in state, and his official funeral will take place nine days later. He will likely be buried in the royal vault at Windsor Castle.

The update comes shortly after a separate high ranking royal insider told In Touch that Charles is not only battling pancreatic cancer – a timely update given that he did not share what kind of cancer he was diagnosed with – but has a mere two years to live.

“King Charles is much sicker than the palace lets on and simply isn’t up to the job of running his fractious family, the crown’s business interests and fulfilling the daily duties of the monarchy,” the member of the royal inner circle revealed in early March.

“His cancer is eating him alive. He’s very frail. The situation is desperate.”

Even Queen Camilla is said to be frustrated by Charles’ declining health and weakened status.

“Behind the scenes, Camilla is disgusted by the king’s apparent weakness and is providing him little comfort as he battles his fatal cancer,” a palace courtier told In Touch in early March.”

Buckingham Palace announced in February that King Charles III had been diagnosed with cancer. The form of cancer was not disclosed and there were speculations it was prostate cancer because the condition was identified during an operation that treated the British monarch’s benign prostate enlargement. However, a palace spokesperson clarified that Charles does not have prostate cancer.

The high-ranking royal insider who spoke to In Touch has now claimed that Charles is battling pancreatic cancer and has been given a short time to live.