Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof. Joseph Utsev, has solicited the cooperation of the police to protect farms and facilities of the Lower Niger River Basin Development Authority (LNRBDA) across the country. Utsev sought the cooperation in Ilorin on Saturday while inaugurating a water project constructed by the LNRBDA at the headquarters of the police command in Kwara. He noted that the ministry must actualise food security, a major component of the “Renewed Hope’’ agenda of President Bola Tinubu.   “Our farms and facilities are scattered all over the country and we need the cooperation of the police to safeguard them to boost food security. “Food security is a key component of the `Renewed Hope’ agenda of President Tinubu. Without food security, we cannot drive the president’s economic policy,’’ the minister said. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Federal Government empowered 50 youths who just completed training at the graduate youths’ empowerment scheme of the LNRBA at the occasion. The programme is designed to train and empower youths to be self-reliant and to meet the nation’s need in food sufficiency. The youths, male and female from Kwara and Kogi were trained in poultry, fish-farming, horticulture and crop farming. They got cash and relevant input to start their farming businesses. Presenting the empowerment materials at a food exhibition, the minister charged beneficiaries to put the knowledge they had acquired and the empowerment tools given to them into judicious use. He also said that the ministry was working toward providing potable water for drinking, sanitation and irrigation. According to him, provision of water for irrigation will provide tripartite benefits. “The water for irrigation will be used in food production; it will generate revenue for government and provide employment for youths,’’ he said. Addressing the inauguration of the water scheme, Dr Adeniyi Aremu, Managing Director of LRNBDA said it started in 2016 and had been consistent in training youths. “This year we empowered 50 graduates with irrigation items.’’ he said. Utsev earlier paid a courtesy visit to the Chairman of Nigeria Governor’s Forum (NGF), Kwara’s Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq. He urged AbdulRazaq to prevail on other governors to work with the ministry to actualise the Renewed Hope agenda of the president. Responding, the governor charged the ministry to conduct feasibility studies and collaborate with state governments to dredge the River Niger and River Benue to end perennial flooding and boost food security. AbdullRazaq lamented that many large agro-allied companies had halted operations because of damages caused them by the flooding of River Niger and River Benue. He urged the ministry to also work with state governments to avoid duplication of projects in states

  Gunmen suspected to be terrorists reportedly kidnapped over 30 farmers in the early hours of Saturday in the Chikuri community of Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State. A resident, Dogara Peter, who confirmed the sad incident to The PUNCH on Saturday, said his mother and his sister were among the victims. According to him, the victims were abducted while working on Maikudi’s Farms. Peter noted, “Our community has been thrown into confusion as we have yet to establish any contact with the abductors. We want the security agencies and the government to swing into action and ensure our people return safely. Peter lamented that this was the third time people were kidnapped in his family, noting that it has crippled their family economically. “We have nowhere to raise money for any ransom, the whole community is traumatised by this sad situation. Our last hope lies in the security agencies and the government”, Peter added. The Kaduna State Police Public Relations Officer, Mohammed Jalige, did not respond to calls put to him by our correspondent as of the time of filling this report.

  Palestinian militants had begun a “war” against Israel which they infiltrated by air, sea and land from the blockaded Gaza Strip on Saturday, Israeli officials said, a major escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israeli medics reported 22 people killed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “we are at war” and vowed severe retaliation after ordering an extensive mobilisation of army reserves. “The enemy will pay an unprecedented price” for the surprise attack, he warned. Iran-backed Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, released a video showing its fighters had captured three men dressed in civilian clothes and described as “enemy soldiers” in the video caption. “We decided to put an end to all the crimes of the occupation (Israel). Their time for rampaging without being held accountable is over,” said the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the Hamas armed wing. “We announce Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and we fired, in the first strike of 20 minutes, more than 5,000 rockets.” Israel’s army said its forces were fighting Palestinian militants on the ground in several locations near the Strip. It dubbed its operation “Swords of Iron”. Army spokesman Richard Hecht said the militants conducted a combined raid “which happened through paragliders, through the sea and through the ground”. He would not be drawn on reports that Israelis had been captured. Unverified videos on social media showed bodies of a number of people in military fatigues as well as dead motorists and passengers on a highway. “Send help, please!” one woman sheltering with her two-year-old child pleaded as militants shot at her house and tried to break into their safe room, according to Israeli media. Militant infiltration from Gaza, an impoverished enclave home to 2.3 million people, has been rare since Hamas took control in 2007, leading to Israel’s crippling blockade. Gaza is sealed off from Israel by a militarised border barrier. The rocket barrage from Gaza — which Hecht said numbered at least 2,200 — left cars burning beneath residential buildings in the Israeli city of Ashkelon, about 10 kilometres (six miles) north of Gaza. – ‘Gates of hell’ – The attack occurred on Shabbat and during a Jewish holiday. Netanyahu said in a statement that the Hamas attack will be riposted at “a magnitude that the enemy has not known”. Israeli Major General Ghasan Alyan warned Hamas had “opened the gates of hell” and would “pay for its deeds”. AFP journalists said Israel’s military began air strikes on Gaza, after rockets began streaming across the sky from inside the territory beginning at 6:30 am (0330 GMT). The military said dozens of its fighter jets “are currently striking a number of targets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation in the Gaza Strip.” An AFP journalist saw armed Palestinians gathered around an Israeli tank, which was partially in flames, after they crossed the border fence from Khan Yunis in Gaza. Another AFP journalist saw Palestinians returning to Gaza City driving a seized Israeli Humvee. Air raid sirens wailed across southern and central Israel, as well as an unusual number of times in Jerusalem, where AFP journalists heard multiple rockets being intercepted by Israeli air defence systems. The army urged people to stay near bomb shelters. – Hundreds of Gazans flee – Israeli police set up roadblocks to check motorists on the highway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, an AFP journalist said. Hundreds of residents fled their homes in Gaza to move away from the border with Israel, mostly in the territory’s northeast, an AFP correspondent said, adding the men, women and children carried blankets and food. In the Israeli commercial centre of Tel Aviv, residents were seen boarding a bus to seek safety in a hotel. An AFP photographer in the city saw a gaping hole in a building, with residents gathered outside. In Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, some Palestinian residents cheered and blew their car horns as sirens blared. Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency medical services said that, by early afternoon, its teams “have pronounced 22 victims deceased” from gunshots, while hundreds more were wounded. Among the dead was the president of a regional council for Israeli communities northeast of Gaza. The council said its president was killed in an exchange of fire with Gaza attackers. – Hamas calls to ‘join battle’ – Hamas called on “the resistance fighters in the West Bank” as well as “our Arab and Islamic nations” to join the battle, in a statement posted on Telegram. An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader said he was “proud” of the Hamas action. Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which fought a devastating war against Israel in 2006, hailed the Palestinians’ “heroic operation on a grand scale”. The Gaza fighting erupted as Washington attempts to mediate a landmark deal which would see Israel and Middle East powerhouse Saudi Arabia establish diplomatic ties. Western capitals roundly denounced the Palestinian attacks on Israel. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called it “terrorism in its most despicable form,” while her foreign policy chief expressed “solidarity with Israel”. The EU, US and Israel consider Hamas to be a terrorist group. United Nations Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland said the assault against Israeli communities and civilians has led to “a dangerous precipice and I appeal to all to pull back from the brink”. The violence follows heightened tensions in September, when Israel closed the border to Gazan workers for two weeks. That shutdown came as Palestinian demonstrators along the border burned tyres and threw rocks and petrol bombs at Israeli troops, who responded with tear gas and live bullets. In May, an exchange of Israeli air strikes and Gaza rocket fire killed 34 Palestinians and one Israeli. Violence between Israel and the Palestinians has been surging since early last year. This year’s rise in unrest came against the backdrop of divisive judicial reforms introduced by the hard-right government of Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges he denies. Before Saturday’s violence at least 247 Palestinians, 32 Israelis and two foreigners have been killed in the conflict, including

  Foreign investors ignored 28 states as the value of capital importation into Nigeria fell by 30 percent to $2.16 billion in the first half of 2023, from $3.11 billion in the same period last year. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed this in its latest capital importation report for the second quarter (Q2) of 2023. Nigeria’s capital imports for the first half of 2023 totalled $2.16 billion, with $1.13 billion imported in Q1 and $1.03 billion in Q2. According to the NBS report, the 28 states that failed to attract foreign investment in H1 2023 include: Abia Bauchi Bayelsa Benue Borno Cross River Delta Ebonyi Edo Enugu Gombe Imo Jigawa Kaduna Kano Katsina Kebbi Kogi Kwara Nasarawa Osun Oyo Plateau Rivers Sokoto Taraba Yobe Zamfara LAGOS: A GlOBAL DESTINATION FOR FOREIGN INVESTORS In the period under review, Lagos took the lead, outshining others — and the federal capital territory (FCT) — to top the list of states that attracted the most investments. Analysis by TheCable Index shows that the country’s major commercial city attracted $1.48 billion, representing 69 percent of the total capital inflow into Nigeria. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, recently assured investors that the state is the right place for investments and “the crown subnational jewel of the African economy”. He said Lagos was ripe for investments in financial technology, education technology, health technology, business process outsourcing (BPO), talent training and placement, or physical infrastructure like data centres, among others. According to the NBS report, the FCT emerged as the second top investment destination with $604.55 million — representing 28 percent of the total capital inflow in the country in the first six months of the year. Other states that attracted foreign investments in the half-year period are Akwa Ibom ($39.1 million), Adamawa ($4.5 million), Anambra ($4 million), and Ogun ($26.1 million). Niger made the list with $1.50 million, Ondo had $200,000, and Ekiti secured $25,500.

  Niger’s military rulers have announced major budget cuts for this year, citing the international sanctions imposed since they seized power in a coup just over two months ago. The country, one of the poorest in the world, relies heavily on foreign aid to support the 25 million population, but that has dwindled since soldiers ousted president Mohamed Bazoum on July 26. “Niger is facing heavy sanctions imposed by international and regional organisations. They have resulted in significant revenue declines,” the military rulers said in a statement read on state television late Friday. The 2023 budget had been slashed by around 40 percent to 1.98 trillion CFA francs ($3.2 billion) from 3.3 trillion francs initially, the statement said. The junta-appointed prime minister, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, had warned that an austerity budget would be implemented, with a priority on ensuring funds for security and paying civil servant salaries. Niger has seen inflation soar since the sanctions imposed against the coup leaders, and supplies of medicine are becoming sparse. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) banned trade with Niger in the wake of the coup and regional powerhouse Nigeria also cut off the electricity it has supplied. Several Western countries have also slashed development aid to the regime, demanding the return of elected leader Bazoum. But the military regime led by General Abdourahamane Tiani says it wants a maximum of three years before restoring democracy. It is hoping to rely on sales of uranium, gold and oil to generate budget funds, and is seeking allies alongside Mali and Burkina Faso, where the military have also seized power. France, the former colonial power in Niger as well as Mali and Burkina Faso, has said it will withdraw its troops deployed against Islamist insurgents in the country, following demands by the new leaders. AFP

  The Federal Government has suspended N-Power program indefinitely. Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, announced the indefinite suspension while speaking in an interview on TVC News on Saturday. According to Edu, the decision was birthed by some irregularities within the scheme. Meanwhile, the minister said the government has launched investigation into the utilization of funds since the inception of the program. She stated that some of the beneficiaries are not found in their place of assignments yet they expect monthly stipends. The minister said some of the beneficiaries ought to have exited the program since 2022 but are still on the payroll. She said, “We must go back to look into N-Power and understand what the problems are so we will basically suspend the programe for now until we are done with proper investigation into the utilization of fund into the N-Power program. “We want to know how many persons are basically on the program right now, how many persons are owed, amount they are owed. We are totally restructuring the N-Power and expanding it. “There are lots going on. We met people who are supposed to have exited the program since last year and they are still on claiming that they are still teaching. “Sometimes we contact the school or the places where they are working and they are not there. They are not working yet they keep claiming that they are being owed eight or nine months stipends. “About 80 percent of them are not working yet they are claiming salaries.”   Recall N-Power Program was launched by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to address the issue of youth unemployment and help increase social developmen

  Joint Security Forces in Anambra State on Friday broke into “insurgent’s camp” at Ogbunka in Orumba South Local Government Area, rescuing three abducted persons including a Reverend Father unhurt. In a statement released on Saturday, the Police Public Relations Officer in Anambra State, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, said the police-led Forward Operating Base (FOB) comprising military and paramilitary Services based in Aguata and supported by Police Rapid Response Squad Awkuzu, also arrested three suspects in the well-coordinated operation. He said that the security forces recovered nine vehicles, three pump action guns, stolen camouflage uniform, Biafra flag, several handsets, flash drives and SIM Cards that will aid comprehensive investigation and prosecution. According to the police spokesperson, the gang has been responsible for spate of abductions in Orumba North and South as well as parts of Aguata LGAs in recent times. He said that the abducted victims were all kidnapped this month. DSP Ikenga noted that the raid on the insurgents’ camp followed months of diligent and painstaking intelligence gathering and investigation which led to uncovering the criminal’s hideout. The statement said that the Anambra State Commissioner of Police, CP Aderemi Adeoye, who ordered and coordinated the operation praised all the service personnel and vigilante men involved for their professionalism which ensured no life was lost. It added that Governor Chukwuma Soludo has also commended the operatives and pledged to continue to support all services involved in Joint Security Operations across the state. See full statement below: Anambra Joint Security Force Smash Insurgents Camp in Ogbunka – Rescues three hostages including Reverend Father. – Arrests three Suspects – Recovers Three Pump Action Guns – Recovers Nine Vehicles snatched at Gunpoint Police-led Forward Operating Base (FOB) comprising military and paramilitary Services based in Aguata and supported by Police Rapid Response Squad Awkuzu yesterday, 6th October, 2023 in a well coordinated operation, stormed insurgents Camp at Ogbunka in Orumba South LGA. Three abducted persons including a Reverend Father were rescued unhurt. Nine vehicles and three Pump Action Guns were recovered. Three suspects were arrested. Also recovered were stolen Camouflage uniform, Biafra Flag, Several Handsets, Flash Drives and Sim Cards that will aid comprehensive investigation and prosecution. This gang has been responsible for spate of abductions in Orumba North and South as well as parts of Aguata LGAs in recent times. The abducted victims were all kidnapped this month. The raid on insurgents Camp followed months of diligent and painstaking intelligence gathering and investigation which led to uncovering the criminal hideout. Anambra State Commissioner of Police, CP Aderemi Adeoye who ordered and coordinated the operation praised all the service personnel and vigilante men involved for their professionalism which ensured no life was lost. Mr. Governor has commended the Operatives and pledged to continue to support all services involved in Joint Security Operations across the State. *DSP Tochukwu Ikenga* Police Public Relations Officer, Anambra State Police Command, Awka. 7th October, 2023.