Six suspects have been arrested in connection with an attempt to steal train coaches in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital. According to Commissioner of Police (CP) in the state, Yusufu Mohammed, the suspects were arrested after a tip-off from residents of Bayan quarters, headquarters of the railway station. Speaking exclusively to Channels TV, CP Mohammed said a mastermind claiming to be a staff of railway corporation in Bauchi State loaded two coaches in a trailer to be transported to Jos but was halted by police personnel. According to the CP, the suspect claimed to be working on an agreement signed between the Plateau State Government and the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) on intra-state transportation service but on interrogation, it was discovered the suspect lied. The CP told our correspondent that the coaches were headed for Jos and six of the arrested suspects were already in the custody of the Borno Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for attempting to transport the coaches out of Borno. Meanwhile, the NRC has said that there was no attempt to steal some of its train coaches in Maiduguri. NRC Managing Director, Fidel Okhiria, made this known in a statement on Saturday. The NRC boss said contrary to online reports, the coaches in viral videos were being moved to Jos in Plateau State to be overhauled. “NRC management wishes to clarify this erroneous reportage by stating that the said coaches are officially being moved to NRC Running Shed Jos, Plateau State to be overhauled and putting them back to operation “NRC is trying to extend Rail Mass Transit all over the country,” the statement partly read.

  Armed bandits on Saturday evening again abducted two students of the Federal University Gusau in Zamfara State. The two students, according to an eyewitness account, were male and female, who were abducted in their off campus hostel around 9pm on Saturday in the Sabon Garin Damba area of Gusau, the state capital Residents said the bandits invaded the community a few minutes after 8pm and shot sporadically in other to scare residents. Several gunshots were fired by security personnel who tried to repel the aggressors but the bandits took away two students. Another resident who pleaded anonymity for security reasons told Channels Television that combined security forces of police and soldiers are currently on trail of the bandits.   Efforts to speak with the spokesperson for the state police command, ASP Yazid Abubakar, was not successful as he did not take calls put across to his line.

  The Federal Government has approached the World Bank for a fresh loan of $400m for the conditional cash transfer to 15 million households as one of the measures to cushion the effects of petrol subsidy removal on Nigerians. The $400m will bring to $1.2bn the amount that the Federal Government is borrowing from the World Bank for the cash transfer as it had earlier secured a loan of $800m for the same purpose. President Bola Tinubu announced the conditional cash transfer to 15 million households in a nationwide address to commemorate the country’s independence on October 1 as part of measures to cushion the effects of the subsidy removal on petrol, which has led to an astronomic rise in the cost of living. He also announced that the Federal Government would commence the payment of N25,000 monthly to 15 million households for three months from October to December 2023. The immediate past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had secured $800m from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) to provide post-petroleum subsidy palliatives for over 50 million Nigerians. The loan was meant to be accessed by the succeeding administration. In his October 1 broadcast, President Tinubu also announced the approval of N25,000 provisional allowance for junior federal workers over the next six months. He said the approval followed negotiations with labour unions and other stakeholders in the business community to increase the federal minimum wage without triggering undue inflation. “For the next six months, the average low-grade worker shall receive an additional N25,000 per month,” the President stated. However, following protests about the exclusion of other categories of workers and pensioners and the threat by the organised labour to embark on a nationwide strike, the government announced N35,000 provisional wage award for all treasury-paid Federal Government workers for six months following further consultations with the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress. A top government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue, told Sunday PUNCH that the Tinubu administration would fund the N35,000 cash award to civil servants by sending a supplementary appropriation bill to the National Assembly. The source stated, “The government is funding the N35,000 wage increase for all federal civil servants and it is not taking a loan. The one the government is taking a loan for is the one of N25,000 multiplied by three months for 15 million households. There is a loan of $800m on this one and the government is adding $400m, making it $1.2bn, which will be used for the conditional cash transfer. “But, the other one (cash award to federal civil servants), the government will fund it. So, most likely there will be a supplementary appropriation for that because it is illegal to spend money out of the government budget.” Meanwhile, Nigeria has maintained its fourth position on the World Bank’s top 10 International Development Association borrowers’ list. This was after moving up from fifth position in the 2022 fiscal year. Despite maintaining its fourth position, the country accumulated about $1.3bn debt within a one-year period. The World Bank Fiscal Year 2022 audited financial statement showed that Nigeria moved to the fourth position on the list with $13bn IDA debt stock as of June 30, 2022. However, the World Bank Fiscal Year 2023 audited financial statement showed that Nigeria owed about $14.3bn IDA debt stock as of June 30, 2023, but maintained its fourth position on the list. Sunday PUNCH further observed that Bangladesh ($19.3bn) moved up the list to become the topmost IDA debtor, taking over from India ($17.9bn debt), which fell to the second position. Pakistan maintained the third position from the last fiscal year with a debt of $16.9bn. Nigeria has the highest IDA debt in Africa, while the top three borrowers, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, are from Asia. Also, in the World Bank 2023 Annual Report, Nigeria was among the top 10 countries that acquired fresh IDA loans this year. The report showed that the bank committed $1.55bn to Nigeria in the fiscal year of 2023, with the country recognised as the ninth-highest beneficiary. Sunday PUNCH recently reported that the Federal Government was engaging the World Bank on a fresh $1.5bn loan.   The loan is titled ‘Nigeria Human Capital for Opportunities and Empowerment’ based on information obtained from the website of the Washington-based bank. The objective of the loan is “to strengthen systems for improved delivery of basic education and primary health services in participating states.” The loan is meant to be implemented in 2024, pending approval by the board of the World Bank Group. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association, which make up the World Bank, have over the years advanced loans to Nigeria. The IBRD lends to governments of middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries, while the IDA provides concessionary loans – called credits – and grants to governments of the poorest countries. The World Bank is Nigeria’s biggest multilateral creditor, with the country owing about $14.51bn as of June 30, 2023. Further breakdown showed that Nigeria had $14.03bn IDA debt and $485.75m IBRD debt by the second quarter of 2023. The Debt Management Office recently said the country’s total public debt hit N87.38tn at the end of the second quarter of this year. The figure represents an increase of 75.29 per cent or N37.53tn compared to N49.85tn recorded at the end of March 2023. Further breakdown shows that Nigeria has a total domestic debt of N54.13tn and a total external debt of N33.25tn. While the domestic debt makes up 61.95 per cent of the total debt, the external makes up 38.05 per cent. It was also observed that there was a significant increase in both domestic and external debt within three months. The domestic debt rose by 79.18 per cent from N30.21tn while the external debt rose by 69.28 per cent from N19.64tn in Q1 2023. In its 2022 Debt Sustainability Analysis Report,

  A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, has upturned the judgment of the National Assembly and State House of Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal in Bayelsa State, which nullified the election of the member representing Sagbama/Ekeremor Federal Constituency, Fred Agbedi. The panel headed by Justice Muhammed Shuaibu in a ruling on Saturday affirmed the election of Agbedi, who was the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 2023 National Assembly polls. The panel, which also includes Justice Habeeb Abiru and Justice Abdul-Azeez Waziri, dismissed as unmeritorious the appeal filed by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Michael Olomu. The panel determined two cross-appeals filed before it by Agbedi and Olomu, respectively, following the tribunal’s ruling on September 7 in the petition marked EPT/BY/HR/01/2023 that was filed by the APC candidate challenging the election of the PDP candidate. Besides setting aside the legislator’s election, the tribunal also directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw his certificate of return and conduct a supplementary polls within 90 days in 17 polling units of wards 10, 11 and 12 of Ekeremor LGA; and six polling units of ward 11 and all the polling units in ward 5 of Sagbama LGA. The tribunal also held that the total number of registered voters in the affected polling units and wards in both LGAs totaling 26,471 were deemed to have been disenfranchised during the polls as a result of violence. However, the appellate court in the lead judgment read by Justice Abiru discountenanced the APC candidate’s appeal for lacking in merit. It upheld the PDP candidate’s appeal on the grounds that the court of first instance (the tribunal) ought to have relied on the number of Permanent Voter Cards collected and not the number of registered voters in the federal constituency, to determine the case. The court therefore dismissed the petitioner’s appeal and returned the PDP candidate to the House of Representatives. Recall that INEC had issued a certificate of return to Agbedi having declared him as the winner of the election polling a total of 21,430 votes, while Olomu scored a total of 8,899 votes.

  The ever-busy Kabong area of Gada Biyu community of Jos North local government area of Plateau State woke up to a devastating disaster in the early hours of Saturday following an explosion which occurred around 2am claiming the lives of about seven persons while several others sustained injuries. Our Correspondent reports that the explosion, which occurred from a power transformer, triggered a huge fire outbreak that ravaged the vicinity and caused widespread panic and fear among the residents in the area. According to an eyewitness, who did not want his name in print, he said death toll from the incident has reached seven, and numerous homes and shops lie in ruins, with destroyed property estimated to be in millions of Naira. “Tragically, two of the deceased individuals were from the same family, compounding the grief for their loved ones,” he added. Meanwhile, the Jos Electricity Distribution Plc has reacted to the disaster, saying it was saddened by the unfortunate incident which occured in the early hours of Saturday affecting customers on its Kabong Primary Distribution Transformer in the Kabong area of Rukuba Road in Jos, the Plateau State capital. A statement issued in Jos by the company’s head of corporate communications, Dr. Friday Adakole Elijah, said preliminary investigation revealed that the accident was as a result of a high-tension line snap into the low-tension lines, which resulted in a voltage supply outside limit. According to the statement, an evaluation of the root cause was underway, and appropriate measures will be put in place to avert future occurrence while expressing the power company’s deepest sympathy to families who have encountered losses as a result of the incident.

  The National Universities Commission (NUC) says it does not recognize the one-year Top-Degree programme allegedly introduced by the National Board for Technical Education, NBTE, in Nigerian polytechnics to enable holders of the Higher National Diploma, HND to convert their certificates to first degree with foreign accredited universities. A statement by Acting Executive Secretary of the NUC, Chris Maiyaki , says the report, which was credited to the Executive Secretary of the NBTE, Professor Idirs Bugaje, revealed that the action was in furtherance of the advocacy for the removal of the existing dichotomy between HND graduates in their various places of work and to enhance the beneficiaries’ opportunities for further studies. The NUC acting Executive Secretary used the statement to warn the management of the NBTE and to inform the general public that the “Bill for an Act to Abolish and Prohibit Dichotomy and Discrimination between First Degree and HND in the Same Profession and Field for the Purpose of Employment and for Related Matters”, which was passed by the 9th National Assembly in 2021, is yet to be assented to by Mr. President; therefore, at the moment, there is no law that has removed the dichotomy between a university degree and the HND. Chris Maiyaki says both the NUC Establishment Law, CAP N81, LFN, 2004 and its Operational Law: the Education National Minimum Standards and Establishment of Institutions Act, CAP E3 LFN, 2004, vest in the Commission the powers to superintend and regulate university education in Nigeria, lay down minimum academic standards in the nation’s universities and other degree-awarding institutions, and accredit their programmes. Maiyaki reiterates that the university degree awarded by the Nigerian University System or any cognate institution is not the same as the HND awarded by Polytechnics in Nigeria and in the Nigerian higher education space, the processes, contents and methods required for the acquisition of a university degree are substantially different from those needed for HND programs. The NUC says at the post-graduate level, the requirements for admission into any Master’s degree programme in Nigerian Universities for candidates with HND are, among others, the acquisition of a Postgraduate Diploma, PGD from a recognized University in an area relevant to that for which the Master’s admission is being sought. The statement stresses further that beneficiaries of the alleged NBTE’s one-year Top-Up Programme shall be subjected to extant admission requirements by Nigerian universities should they desire to further their studies in the university, and that unsuspecting general public and all relevant ministries, departments and agencies should note that the NUC is not a party to and, indeed, disavows the so-called Top-up Scheme, being concocted by the NBTE. NUC advises that the NBTE should focus on its core mandate and desist from introducing programmes that are outside its jurisdiction and not supported by any law in Nigeria.

  Rivers governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has alleged that some army officers were sabotaging efforts towards tackling the menace of illegal oil bunkering in the state. Fubara disclosed this when he received the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Taoreed Abiodun Lagbaja, on a courtesy visit at the Government House on Friday. According to Fubara, the suspected officers were attached to a particular company in Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Council of the state. Fubara said his administration was doing everything possible to curb illegal bunkering activities, but alleged that some officers of the Nigerian Army had been compromised in parts of Ahoada East and Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni local councils. “One special problem that we have here is the issue of bunkering. In some parts of the state, in Ahoada East and Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni, most of the bunkering activities there, we believe, are subsisting because there is this cooperation between the Army and top oil companies,” Fubara said. “I’m saying this because there is this road we are constructing somewhere in Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni and each time the contractor approaches this particular company and pleads that they allow them to go ahead with the job, the military will always come and attack our contractors,” he added. Fubara explained how he had tried to resolve the problem without success because of the “vested interest” of the officers, urging the Chief of Army Staff to call them to order. “Carrying out some assignments with any company does not give any person powers to decide for the state how things should be done. Look into the matter,” the governor added. He commended the army and other security agencies in their efforts to maintain peace and security across the state. In his speech, Lagbaja said he was in Port Harcourt as part of his visit to formations and units under his command following his assumption of office. He appreciated the governor for the continuous support, intervention and cooperation with the army to perform its operations that have fostered peace and stability in the state.

  The Trade Union Congress on Saturday said the suspension of its October 1 nationwide strike was a temporary move. It noted that it remained conditional upon the fulfillment of the promise by the President Bola Tinubu-led administration to fulfill the conditions enlisted in the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Federal Government and the Organised Labour. Labour also dismissed the claim by governors that they would not implement the demands in the MoU between the Federal Government and the organised labour on the grounds that governors had rolled out palliatives for state civil servants and residents before the MoU was signed. The National Deputy President of the Trade Union Congress, Tommy Etim, made these known in an interview with our correspondent in Abuja on Saturday. Sunday PUNCH reports that the organised Labour and the Federal Government had signed a 15-point agreement in the MoU, which was made public on October 1, 2023. Speaking on reports that governors might not implement the terms of the agreement, Etim stated, “That is not possible. Anyways, the truth is that we have reached out to our people in the states to meet with them. Letters have also been sent to that effect.” On the progress reached so far with the government, the labour leader said, “The 30-day ultimatum we gave to them is still in place. We have given them time and we are sure they are working. What we did was just a suspension. When you suspend a strike, you can kickstart it without further notice. We have done our part and we are waiting for them to play their part.”