The House of Representatives on Wednesday rejected the claim that lawmakers got N100 million each as palliatives from the Federal Government. Reps spokesman Akin Rotimi, in a statement, described a claim by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Assistant General Secretary, Christopher Onyeka, as baseless. Onyeka alleged that each lawmaker raked in the palliative sum from the government. “The House of Representatives demands an immediate retraction of this lie and a public apology from the Nigeria Labour Congress. The NLC as a critical stakeholder in the development of Nigeria has a voice and it risks delegitimising that voice if it is found to include fables in its legitimate agitations,” the statement read. ADVERTISEMENT “Transparency and truth in public discourse are necessary for a functioning democracy. While we doubt that Mr. Onyeka was actually conveying the official position of the NLC on this claim, it is nonetheless important to correct such misinformation. “First, we state categorically that Mr. Onyeka lied in his claim that National Assembly members were given N100m as palliatives. For the avoidance of doubt, at no time did Members of the House of Representatives receive any money from the Executive arm as palliatives. We, therefore, consider this statement as malicious, irresponsible and in bad faith. “We consider it irresponsible and most unfortunate that Mr. Onyeka would misrepresent facts in a bid to lend credence to otherwise valid demands of the NLC, while seeking to denigrate the National Assembly, and inciting the public against the institution. “Accordingly, the House of Representatives demands an immediate retraction of this lie and a public apology from the Nigeria Labour Congress. The NLC as a critical stakeholder in the development of Nigeria has a voice and it risks delegitimising that voice if it is found to include fables in its legitimate agitations. “Second, we wish to remind the NLC and indeed all Nigerians that in less than 100 days in the tenure of the 10th Assembly, we have demonstrated our commitment to the welfare of Nigerian workers and all Nigerians.”

  Heavy rainfall that could lead to flooding may hit about 48 towns in 13 states beginning from September 13 to September 17, 2023, the Federal Government announced on Wednesday. It predicted that the rise in the water levels of River Benue and River Niger could affect communities along the rivers up to Bayelsa State and advised residents in these areas to take precautionary measures. The government disclosed this in the flood prediction report of the National Flood Early Warning Systems Central Hub of the Federal Ministry of Environment, made available to our correspondent in Abuja. According to the report, the 13 states to be affected include Kano, Kebbi, Katsina, Niger, Kwara, Zamfara, Bauchi, Taraba, Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Jigawa and Gombe. The report read in part, “The following locations and their environs are likely to witness heavy rainfall that may lead to flooding within the period of prediction: 13th – 17th September 2023: “In Kano State: Sumaila, Kunchi; Kebbi State: Argungu; Katsina State: Bindawa, Jibia, Kaita, Katsina; Niger State: Kontagora, Mashegu, New Bussa; and Kwara State: Kosubosu.” In Zamfara State, the report stated that Kaura Namoda and Shinkafi might witness heavy rainfall leading to flooding, while in Bauchi State the same scenario might happen in Bajoga, Darazo, Kirfi, Azare, Jama‘are, Itas and Misau. Towns that might be affected in Taraba State include Beli, Donga, Lau, Serti, Mutum-Biyu and Yorro; while in Borno State, Briyel, Biu, Dikwa, Kukawa and Bama might take the hit as well. In Adamawa State, Ganye, Mubi, Demsa, Jimeta, Mayo Belwa, Numan, Shelleng, and Song were listed, while towns that were named in Yobe State include Dapchi, Gashua, Geidam, Kanamma, Machina, and Potiskum, Only Nafada in Gombe State might witness heaving rainfall that could lead to flood during the review period, while in Jigawa State, Dutse, Gumel, Gwaram, and Miga might be affected. “Also, due to the rise in the water level of River Benue and River Niger, communities along River Benue and River Niger up to Bayelsa State should kindly take precautionary measures,” the report stated. The agency, however, stated that feedback from relevant stakeholders and state government representatives would be highly appreciated. The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof. Joseph Utsev, had earlier stated on Tuesday that the Federal Government was striving to curtail the excesses of floods caused by heavy rainfall and the recent release of water from dams and rivers. He urged Nigerians to always implement the recommendations of Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, to mitigate the effects of floods, stressing that the government was currently trying to see how to tackle its excesses

  Thursday 14 September 2023 Land grabbers’ violent return to Lagos leaves trail of blood, deaths Naira weakens to N950/dollar as forex scarcity worsens FG predicts heavy rainfall, flood in 48 towns Suspected cable thief electrocuted in Anambra Rivers polytechnic lecturer laments seized 20 months salaries Nigerian Tonye Solomon Sets Record For Climbing Mast With Ball On Head Lagos Reps Rerun: It’s A Miracle We Get Another Chance – Banky W Reps Speaker Abbas Denies Rift With Gov Uzodimma Sanwo-Olu Swears In 37 New Commissioners, Special Advisers Tribunal Sacks Four PDP NASS Members In Plateau Reps Reject Claim Lawmakers Got N100m Palliative Each, Say ‘NLC Lied’ IGP declares killer of DPO Bako in Rivers wanted Ogun govt declares collection of any fee or levy in schools illegal Garba Shehu: Buhari may have taken wrong decisions — but you can’t question his intentions ‘Nigeria ready to provide assistance’ — Tinubu condoles with Libya over flood disaster NNPP writes INEC over alleged plans to change party’s logo Ransom From Kidnappings, Means Of Funding Terrorism – NSA Lack Of Funds Stalls N16tr Railway Projects Across Nigeria Blackout As National Grid Collapses Anambra to introduce rail system to ease movement of goods, commuters Visit a newspaper stand this morning, buy and read a copy for yourself…

  Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, has denied purported rift between him and Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State as reported in some sections of the media. In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Musa Abdullahi Krishi, Abbas debunked the report titled, ‘Uzodimma Reports Abbas To Tinubu For Giving Ugochinyere Juicy Committee.’ The report published in a national daily (not Daily Trust) insinuated that both Speaker Abbas and Governor Uzodinma were at loggerheads. Abbas, however, said he enjoys a cordial relationship with the Imo State Governor and there was no rift over the issue of Ugochinyere’s Committee chairmanship appointment. The Speaker described the report as “fictitious” and “malicious”, and urged the public to disregard the story. The statement reads, “It has come to the attention of the Speaker of the House of Representatives Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, Ph.D, that a newspaper report with the above headline has been in circulation. Ordinarily, the Speaker would not respond to such a fictitious and malicious story, but for the unsuspecting public, who may be hoodwinked by the content of the report that was only attributed to imaginary ‘sources.’ “The Speaker wishes to inform the public that at no time did the Imo State Governor, His Excellency, Senator Hope Uzodinma, contact him to rescind the appointment of Hon. Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere as the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream). For the record, Speaker Abbas Tajudeen enjoys a cordial relationship with Governor Hope Uzodinma and nothing has happened to warrant any sour relationship between them.”

  The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it is not planning to introduce a new naira policy that will crash the dollar exchange rate to N1.25 kobo. On Wednesday, a report circulating online claimed that the apex bank is mulling a new FX policy. According to the report, the policy is scheduled for November 2023 and will “better anchor inflation expectations and make for easier conversion to other major currencies”. The report also said the policy will “reverse the tendency for currency substitution” as well as “eliminate higher denomination notes with lower purchasing power”. As of Tuesday, the exchange rate was N742.10 to the dollar at the investors’ and exporters’ (I&E) window — Nigeria’s official FX market. Commenting on the report in a statement on Wednesday — accompanied by a screenshot of the report — the CBN said the publication is false. The Central Bank of Nigeria would like to bring to your attention that the attached message currently circulating on social media is false and should be disregarded,” the apex bank wrote in the statement posted on X, formerly Twitter. The financial regulator has been rolling out policies to reform the FX market since President Bola Tinubu was sworn in at the end of May 2023. Some of the policies include the cessation of restrictions on deposits into domiciliary accounts, and unification of the multiple exchange rates systems which has led to the devaluation of the naira. The devaluation of the naira has pushed the price of the dollar in the investors’ and exporters’ (I&E) window of the official market from N461.50/$1 on June 13, to N742.10/$1 as of Tuesday.

  The authorities of Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Osun State, on Wednesday, announced adjustments to the fees that students of the institution will be required to pay for the upcoming academic session. This decision, according to a communique released by the university’s Public Relations Officer, Abiodun Olarewaju, was taken by the Senate at its emergency meeting held yesterday, Tuesday, September 12, 2023. Olarewaju said, “Those in the Faculties of Arts, Law and Humanities, the ‘freshers’ will pay N151,200 while returning students of the same faculties will pay N89,200.” Returning students in the faculties were paying N20,100 before the increase while Faculties of Technology and Science paid N28,100. Also, the Faculty of Pharmacy students paid N31,100 per session. Olanrewaju added that “in the Faculties of Technology and Science, the new students will pay N163,200” while returning students are to pay the sum of N101,200. He added that the newly admitted students into the Faculty in the College of Health Sciences, and Faculty of Pharmacy are to pay N190,200 while returning students pay N128,200. “The management, therefore, wishes the students resounding success in their academic programmes. The above adjustable fees are just for an academic session,” he added.   The PUNCH reported on March 24, 2023, that the leadership of the Students’ Union Government of the university said it was holding a crucial meeting, following a new “professional fee” purportedly introduced at the university’s College of Health Sciences by the administrators. It was gathered that the college management at a colloquium announced a N100,000 professional fee to be paid by the students beginning from the next session. The Students Union leaders in a statement by the President, Secretary-General, and Public Relations Officer, Olayiwola Festus; Odewale Damilare and Ogunperi Taofeek respectively, stated the union was holding an “emergency meeting.” “This evening, it was brought to the attention of the leadership of the Union that there is an increment of N100,000 tagged ‘medical professional fees’ in the College of Health Sciences of the University. “In order to address this issue properly and tackle the increment, and for the benefit of students, the Central Executive Council is holding an emergency meeting immediately,” the statement said. In 2018, medical students at the college unanimously rejected the introduction of an N85,000 professional training fee.

  US police announced Wednesday the capture of a convicted Brazilian murderer who caught national attention with his daring prison escape and two weeks on the run. Pennsylvania state police said on social media that a press conference would be held shortly “announcing the details of THE CAPTURE of Danelo Cavalcante.” Footage on CNN showed heavily armed officers in camouflage handcuffing the Brazilian national and removing his shirt, revealing a large tattoo on his back, before placing him in the back of a police vehicle.   No further details were given. The manhunt for the Brazilian national had involved some 500 police using helicopters, drones, dogs and backed by special units in military style gear. But Cavalcante, 34 and measuring a diminutive five feet (1.52 meters) tall, appeared to have an uncanny ability to dodge his pursuers. He had already evaded police in the suburban and rural area west of Philadelphia since his jail break on August 31 and on Tuesday he raised the stakes by entering a private garage to steal a .22 caliber rifle with a scope — then dodging pistol gunfire from the pursuing homeowner to get away. Police declared him “armed and extremely dangerous.” Cavalcante was convicted of murdering his girlfriend — stabbing her dozens of times in front of her children — and had just begun his sentence when he climbed over the prison wall and cleared two razor-wire fences. Police then struggled to narrow down the fugitive’s location in the heavily wooded area. However, Cavalcante repeatedly popped up on private security cameras and even trail cams meant to monitor wildlife, turning his escapade into a kind of grim reality TV show. Stealing from houses, he succeeded in finding clothes, food, the rifle, a van and somehow even managed to get shaved. On Tuesday, after the rifle theft, authorities set up roadblocks in the rural roads around Bucktown, Pennsylvania, where elite SWAT police and armored vehicles were also deployed. In addition to flooding the search zone with messages warning residents, a decision was taken early Tuesday to close schools in the Oakland J. Robert school district. – ‘Needle in haystack’ – Defending against criticism that the police were inept in the manhunt, Pennsylvania police spokesman George Bivens had called Cavalcante the “proverbial needle in the haystack.” The director of Lundale Farm, some 40 miles (64 kilometers) outside of Philadelphia, said police were “walking through our property, walking through the woods.” She said the area has “trees, creeks and bridges and all kinds of corners (where) you could sneak around.” “It’s been very stressful.” Police had upped the reward for information on Cavalcante’s whereabouts, from $20,000 to $25,000. Cavalcante is also wanted for murder in Brazil, US police say.

  No fewer than 56 people have died while dozens were injured in a huge fire in an apartment block in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi. Some 37 people were injured in the fire, police said, adding that 39 victims have been identified. According to BBC, the fire, which broke out during the night, has been extinguished but rescue operations have not ceased.   Authorities in fast-growing Hanoi said many newly-built apartments do not meet fire safety regulations. The city’s population has quadrupled to 5.25 million in the past 20 years. Authorities said an investigation has been launched into the fire but witnesses said the inferno began in the parking floor of the building, which was packed with motorbikes. Residents described hearing a loud bang at around 23:00 local time on Tuesday (16:00 GMT), and then seeing black smoke rising through the building. One family said they had to escape by smashing the metal railings blocking their window, and putting a ladder across to a neighbouring building. Women wait for information from relatives near the site of a major fire at an apartment block in Hanoi on “I heard a lot of shouts for help. We could not help them much,” Hoa, a woman who lives nearby, told the AFP news agency. “The apartment is so closed with no escape route, impossible for the victims to get out.” Another witness saw a little boy thrown from a high floor to help him escape the flames, AFP reports. “The smoke was everywhere. I don’t know whether he survived or not although people used a mattress to catch him,” she said. Fifteen fire engines were sent to assist but could not get close to the burning apartment block because the alley it was in was too narrow. The back of an apartment block after a fire erupted in Hanoi, Vietnam, 13 September 2023. The blaze highlights the challenges of managing fire safety in the region’s fast-growing and poorly regulated cities. A year ago, 33 people died in a fire at a karaoke club in southern Vietnam where windows were bricked up, blocking escape. There have been many similar tragedies in other Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, where regulations were found afterwards either to be inadequate or in many cases simply not enforced. No fewer than 56 people have died while dozens were injured in a huge fire in an apartment block in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi. Some 37 people were injured in the fire, police said, adding that 39 victims have been identified. According to BBC, the fire, which broke out during the night, has been extinguished but rescue operations have not ceased. Authorities in fast-growing Hanoi said many newly-built apartments do not meet fire safety regulations. The city’s population has quadrupled to 5.25 million in the past 20 years. Authorities said an investigation has been launched into the fire but witnesses said the inferno began in the parking floor of the building, which was packed with motorbikes. Residents described hearing a loud bang at around 23:00 local time on Tuesday (16:00 GMT), and then seeing black smoke rising through the building. One family said they had to escape by smashing the metal railings blocking their window, and putting a ladder across to a neighbouring building. Women wait for information from relatives near the site of a major fire at an apartment block in Hanoi on “I heard a lot of shouts for help. We could not help them much,” Hoa, a woman who lives nearby, told the AFP news agency. “The apartment is so closed with no escape route, impossible for the victims to get out.” Another witness saw a little boy thrown from a high floor to help him escape the flames, AFP reports. “The smoke was everywhere. I don’t know whether he survived or not although people used a mattress to catch him,” she said. Fifteen fire engines were sent to assist but could not get close to the burning apartment block because the alley it was in was too narrow. The back of an apartment block after a fire erupted in Hanoi, Vietnam, 13 September 2023. The blaze highlights the challenges of managing fire safety in the region’s fast-growing and poorly regulated cities. A year ago, 33 people died in a fire at a karaoke club in southern Vietnam where windows were bricked up, blocking escape. There have been many similar tragedies in other Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, where regulations were found afterwards either to be inadequate or in many cases simply not enforced.

  The National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Asaba has declared the February 25 Delta central senatorial district election inconclusive. The three-member tribunal headed by Justice W.I. Kpochi ordered a re-run in 48 units across four out of eight local government areas in the district. It further held that the Certificate of Return initially issued to Senator Ede Dafinone of the All Progressive Congress (APC) by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should be set aside. Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the said election, Ighoyota Amori, had approached the tribunal, seeking to be declared as winner or in the alternative, the court should order a re-run in the contentious four council areas. Recall that the tribunal had last week also declared the election of Senator Joel Onowakpo (APC) for Delta South inconclusive, directing INEC to conduct a supplementary election for Warri South Local Government Area of the district within 90 days. Meanwhile, the tribunal upheld the election of Benedict Etanabene of the Labour Party as a member representing the Okpe/Sapele/Uvwie federal constituency. In validating Etanabene’s election, Justice Kpochi dismissed the petition filed by the candidate of the PDP, Evelyn Oboro for lack of merit. Oboro, a former member of the House and former Commissioner for Water Resources in the state, had in her petition, sought the disqualification of Etanabene on the ground that he did duly resign his teaching position from the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurun. INEC had declared Etanabene who polled 37,107 votes as duly elected while Oboro scored 29,917 in the election.