A yet-to-be-identified male adult has been confirmed dead after an electric cable drum fell on him at Ojo-Igbede Road in the Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos State. PUNCH Online gathered that the incident happened on Thursday while a forklifter was transloading armoured cables from a container into its body. A police source who spoke to our correspondent on Saturday said the transloading was ongoing when one of the cable drums disconnected and fell on the deceased victim who was said to be walking past the spot while pressing his phone. The source said the victim died on the way to the hospital. I Pay My Fees, Send Money Home From Tricycle Driving – Female University Student | Punch0:00 / 0:00 “A Hiab fork lifter was transloading their company’s armored cables from a container into its body, along Ojo-Igbede road by St. Andrew’s Catholic church. “Incidentally, one of the cable drums disconnected and fell on a passerby, who was said to be pressing his phone while walking and he gave up the ghost on the way to hospital. The scene was visited by detectives of the Ilemba-Hausa division and inquiries were made,” the police source disclosed. Meanwhile, the owner of the company has been taken into custody for interrogation. “He is being interrogated for reckless and negligent acts by refusing to place any sign signifying the inherent danger nor hiring a guard to direct other road users away from the scene,” the source added. The state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the incident. Hundeyin said, “The corpse has been deposited in the mortuary for autopsy and preservation. An investigation is ongoing.”

  Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has declared a vote of no confidence on the National Chairman of the Labour Party, Mr. Julius Abure. NLC also demands immediate resignation of Abure as the party chairman and the constitution of a caretaker transition committee to organise a legitimate and all-inclusive National Convention of the Labour Party. NLC further said its no-confidence vote and demand for his resignation is to save Labour Party from Abure’s further maladministration, sole administrator displays, and mismanagement of the party which it said has been going on for too long. The Congress further declared the recent announcement of the Labour Party national convention by Abure as illegal, adding that NLC will not allow any form of illegality in the affairs of the party stand. Contained in a statement tagged: a misadventure in political mischief, mismanagement, and misdemeanour gone too far, signed by NLC Political Commission Chairman and Secretary, Comrades Titus Amba, and Chris Uyot, respectively, NLC also bemoans the news of the LP’s National Convention, wondering how such convention was planned without the stakeholders being aware. The statement in part reads; The Nigeria Labour Congress Political Commission has received news of the clandestine scheduling of a supposed National Convention of the Labour Party in March 2024 by the National Chairman, Barrister Julius Abure. “This news came as a shock to us as the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) were never in anyway informed of any plans to hold the Labour Party National Convention. We find this development a further aberration and extrapolation of the mismanagement of the Labour Party through a very strange leadership style of sole administration by the National Chairman of the party. “Mr. Julius Abure contrary to the solidarity spirit and camaraderie ethos of the Labour Party has decided to run the party as a Sole Administrator, the same allegations that have been hurled at him by the numerous persons he is fighting in the party. We affirm that Abure does not have the sole proprietorship of the processes for a national convention. “On March 20, 2018, Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court gave a consent judgment that mandated the Labour Party to hold an all-inclusive national convention. Consequent on this judgement, the leadership of the NLC and the Labour Party in a process mediated by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) signed an agreement mandating the Mr. Julius Abure led leadership of the Labour Party to implement the following undertakings: Recognise the statutory membership of organised labour in the National Working Committee of the Labour Party, Constitute the Board of Trustees of the Labour Party, and Conduct an all-inclusive National Convention of the Labour Party in line with the court judgement by Justice Gabriel Kolawole. “Unfortunately, out of all the agreements reached with Organised Labour, the Labour Party leadership under Mr. Abure has partially implemented the recognition of NLC statutory membership of Labour Party National Working Committee. The rest of the agreement has been tossed aside with impunity by Mr. Abure. The several promises by Mr. Abure to fully implement including the conduct of an inclusive national convention of the Labour Party which has the force of court judgement has been discovered to be fluke. His recent attempt to outwit the leadership of Organised Labour and clandestinely hold a national convention buttresses this. “The court judgement and subsequent agreement between the leadership of the NLC and the Labour Party were all aimed at repositioning the Labour Party as an alternative political platform for Nigerian workers and people with the aim of providing transformational political leadership for the country against the decades of governance failure. This approach is anchored on our understanding that a Labour Party that can drive the Nigeria of our dream must be anchored on integrity and solidarity. “It was in recognition and solidarity with this ideological approach to political leadership that the Labour Party became the rallying point for all workers and aggrieved downtrodden masses of our people who have become conscious of the unrepentant betrayal by the establishment political parties of our shared dream of a great nation.” The statement further said; “The NLC Political Commission is concerned that some characters in the Labour Party leadership have failed to identify with the expectation of Nigerian workers and people that the Labour Party must be always above board. The continued refusal of the National Chairman of the Labour Party to showcase the leadership qualities epitomised in the founding ideology of the Labour Party presents him as unfit for the position he desperately wishes to cling to and we have now discovered is the reason behind all the crises in the Labour Party. “The sole administrator mentality of Mr. Abure has stood in the way of efforts by the NLC Political Commission to intervene and resolve the leadership crises in the Labour Party. Our position and interventions in the Labour Party have been in three dimensions. First is to defend the Labour Party from being maligned and hijacked by fifth columnists especially establishment political parties who have invested huge resources to recruit some members of the national leadership of the Labour Party to undermine the party. “Second, the NLC Political Commission have continued to intervene in the leadership crisis in the Labour Party to ensure that the Party operates an efficient and effective system of management that prioritises inclusiveness, transparency and accountability not the sole administrator system that has been foisted on the party’s psyche by Mr. Abure and his ilk who are not committed to the ideology of Labour Party. “Third, our continued intervention in the affairs of the Labour Party is to ensure that the court judgements, agreements and organ decisions of the Labour Party are kept to the letter. Instead of sticking to agreements, Mr. Julius Abure has deployed all manner of subterfuge to undermine the efforts of NLC to reposition the Labour Party as the number one political party in Nigeria including shunning invitations to meet with the NLC Political Commission. Mr. Julius

  A new report from Ernst and Young estimates that 17 out of 24 banks might not meet the capital requirement from the CBN if it is increased 15-fold from its current N25 billion. Nairametrics, which quoted the report, said the finding discusses the options available to banks who might fall outside the capital requirements from the CBN. Although the report acknowledged that financial soundness indicators show that Nigerian banks are largely safe and resilient as of 2023. According to the report, the recent plan by the CBN to increase the capital base of banks will lead to a series of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) as witnessed during the last recapitalisation exercise in 2004/2005. The last recapitalisation exercise of the apex bank reduced the number of banks from 89 to 25 It stated, “While the CBN governor gave no indication as to the magnitude of the proposed hike in the capital base, we have assumed what the proposed increment will be based on three different scenarios underpinned on current macroeconomic conditions. On the back of that, we were able to determine the number of banks (across the three licence types) that may fall below the new minimum capital thresholds. “In a worst-case scenario, i.e., given a capital multiplier of 15, about 17 out of 24 banks would not meet the new minimum capital.” The report noted that the plan to recapitalise banks is premised upon the recent devaluation of the naira in 2023. It explained that the exchange rate as of 2005 during the last exercise in 2005 stood at N132.9/$ but the naira currently exchange for over N1400/$. Furthermore, the N25 billion capital base in 2005 amounted to $188.2 million, this has dropped significantly to a mere $18.4 million using the recent exchange rate.

  MainOne, a West African digital infrastructure service provider, says repairing its undersea submarine cables might take one to two weeks. On Thursday, subsea cable providers were affected by major cuts to undersea submarine cables, disrupting internet traffic in major parts of the continent. This disrupted the services of banks and telecommunications companies in Nigeria. In a statement on Friday, MainOne said an additional two to three weeks of transit time may be required for a vessel to pick up the spares of submarine cables and travel from Europe to West Africa. Speaking on the cause of the network outage, MainOne said preliminary findings and further investigations showed “the fault occurred due to an external incident that resulted in a cut on its submarine cable system, in the Atlantic Ocean offshore Cote D’Ivoire, along the coast of West Africa”. “We have a maintenance agreement with Atlantic Cable Maintenance and Repair Agreement (ACMA) to provide repair services for the submarine cable,” the company said. “First identify and assign a vessel, the vessel has to retrieve the necessary spares required for repair, and then sail to the fault location to conduct the repair work. “Next, in order to complete the repair, the affected section of the submarine cable will have to be pulled from the seabed onto the ship where it will be spliced by skilled technicians.” According to MainOne, after repair, joints will be inspected and tested for any defects and subsequently, the submarine cable will be lowered back to the seabed and placed in a good position. “This process might take 1-2 weeks for repairs while about 2-3 weeks of transit time may be required for the vessel to pick up the spares and travel from Europe to West Africa once the vessel is mobilised,” MainOne said. In another update on Friday, the company said it is working with cable systems not affected by the incident or previous outages to secure restoration capacity. MainOne said its technical team is working assiduously to restore services, subject to availability of capacity and service configuration specifics. “We will also provide incremental updates on the root cause and efforts to repair the submarine cable as soon as those details become available,” the company said. MTN: BAYOBAB WORKING WITH PARTNERS TO REPAIR DAMAGED CABLES In a statement on Friday, MTN Group said Bayobab, a digital connectivity solutions company, is working with its partners on the synchronisation of repair work on the damaged underwater digital communication cables along West Africa. “As confirmed by their consortium partners, on March 14, 2024 four subsea cables were cut. They are WACS, ACE, SAT3 and MainOne,” MTN said. According to the statement, it is also collaborating with partners to mitigate the impact of the damage by rerouting traffic and enabling more circuits. “ACE and WACS have jointly initiated the repair process by mobilising a cable ship for a collaborative repair effort. While investigation and repair efforts are underway, Bayobab’s strategy focuses on successfully rerouting traffic, leveraging our extensive network, and collaborating with industry partners,” the telco said. “Our network resiliency allows for the swift activation of new cables, facilitating faster rerouting and bolstering network resilience. By activating new cables, we quickly increase interconnectivity and establish alternative routes. “Additionally, we are working with the cable consortiums and partners to enhance interconnection along both the west and east coasts, with further interconnections between WACS and Equiano, and the introduction of the end-to-end connection between WACS on the west coast and EASSy on the east coast.” MTN said it has already made progress in restoring service in some affected regions, assuring it remains committed to achieving full recovery as swiftly as possible.

  Police in Akwa Ibom rescued four kidnap victims in the last one month. One of them is a woman who faked her own abduction. They also arrested 52 suspects for various crimes. Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Waheed Ayilara, told journalists in Uyo on Friday that some of the crimes were murder, kidnap, armed robbery, child trafficking, cultism and fraud. He said one of the kidnap “victims”, a female from Nung Oku village in Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom actually arranged her own kidnap. I Pay My Fees, Send Money Home From Tricycle Driving – Female University Student | Punch0.00 / 0.00 3 She thereafter demanded for N4m ransom, but was arrested by the police. “A report was received on Monday from one Enobong Sampson that her sister had been kidnapped and that the kidnappers were demanding N4m as ransom. “As a result, operatives of Anti-kidnapping Squad of the Command embarked on an intense and intelligence-driven operation to track down the kidnappers and rescue the victim. “On Tuesday, however, the purported victim and her boyfriend were arrested at a hideout at Mbierebe Obio, Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area. “She confessed to have conspired with her boyfriend and three others to proclaim her kidnap to raise money from her aunty based outside the country,” Ayilara said. He added that on Wednesday, police arrested a man at Uruting village in Okobo Local Government Area of the state for killing his 75-year-old father, using a machete. The suspect claimed that his deceased father had sold all the parcels of land he had, including the one that he gave to him to build his house as the reason for his action, the police commissioner said. Ayilara said also that on March 8, police arrested one man at Ayam village in Etinan Local Government Area of the state for being involved in the production of adulterated fruits drinks and fake products. Also on March 8, police rescued and arrested a man who used Point of Sale machines to defraud innocent citizens and was to be set ablaze but for the arrival of police operatives. Ayilara said most of the man’s victims had identified him and N350,000 cash was recovered from him at the time of arrest. The police commissioner pledged that all the suspects would be arraigned as soon as investigations were concluded.

  An Undersea cable damage on Thursday, March 14, disrupted internet services across Nigeria and by extension Africa, The Nation has learnt. Countries including South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Cameroon, Benin, and others also reported service disruptions. The damage affected major undersea cables near Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire and is causing downtime across West and South African countries. In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, Vodacom said: “Certain customers are currently experiencing intermittent connectivity issues due to multiple undersea cable failures affecting SA’s network providers, including us. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.” The outage has also affected services such as Microsoft Azure and Office 365. According to one of the world’s leading financial news organisations, Bloomberg, the West Africa Cable System, MainOne and ACE sea cables — arteries for telecommunications data — were all affected on Thursday.   Some bank networks in Nigeria have been down and unable to process transactions as a result of the internet outage. Responding to its customers’ complaints over the poor internet connectivity being experienced, MTN has issued a statement explaining the cause. The company said: “We apologize for the challenges you may be experiencing with internet speed and accessing data services at the moment. “This is a result of damage to international undersea cables across East & West Africa. The repair process is ongoing to resolve the situation as soon as possible. Please look out for further updates.” The latest outage comes after subsea cable operator Seacom recently encountered a service-affecting outage on its cable system in the Red Sea. Last week, the company said it was waiting for a permit to start repairing its broken submarine cable in the Red Sea. The Red Sea is a critical telecommunications route, connecting Europe to Africa and Asia via Egypt. The damaged cables carry about 25% of traffic in the region, according to estimates from Hong Kong-based internet provider HGC Global Communications, which uses the cables. It was re-routed via alternative cables, including via the west coast of Africa. Source: TheNation

  The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked Senate President Godswill Akpabio to “immediately step aside” and allow for an independent investigation into the allegation that the 2024 appropriation act was padded by N3 trillion. At the weekend, Abdul Ningi, senator representing Bauchi central, stirred controversy when he alleged that the 2024 budget was padded by N3 trillion and that the country is operating two budgets concurrently. On Tuesday, the allegation was debated at the “committee of the whole” of the red chamber, amid a rowdy session. Subsequently, the senator was suspended for three months. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the PDP said Akpabio is not fit to continue as senate president. ‘WE STAND WITH NINGI’ The PDP condemned Ningi’s suspension, saying there was no detailed investigation of the claims raised by the lawmaker. “The PDP firmly condemns the suspension of Senator Abdul Ningi by the All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership in the Senate without a detailed inquest into the issue of budget padding which he raised,” the statement issued by Debo Ologunagba, PDP spokesperson, reads. The party said Ningi’s suspension is “apparently a desperate move to suppress investigation, conceal and sweep the facts under the carpet”. The PDP said the senate should have referred the claim to a standing committee for an open investigation in line with the extant rules of the senate. “What is the APC senate leadership afraid of and what is it hiding from Nigerians?” the party asked. “It is even more absurd that instead of recusing himself, the Senate President sat as a judge in the matter; a situation that has the capacity to bring the institution of the Senate to further public disrepute. “This is especially as the issues at hand heavily border on alleged gross misconduct and criminal betrayal of public trust which are serious offences under our laws.” The PDP said the lack of a thorough investigation of the claim has smeared the image of the senate. “Our Party therefore stands with Senator Ningi for his courage in seeking probity and accountability in the polity,” the opposition party said.

  Terrorists on Tuesday night, launched another attack on Banono Angwaku community in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State, killing one Christopher Zamani, injuring another person, and abducting eight persons. The eight victims were identified as Kauna Fidelis, Tina Bulus, Alice Joshua, Sarah Micah, Janet Amos, Martha Peter, Rita Joefrey and Favour Ado. A resident of the LG, Dauda Manyu, who confirmed the incident to PUNCH Online on Thursday in Kaduna, said the terrorists also stole money, two motorcycles, food items and other valuables. He said they invaded the village around 10 p.m. The attack came barely 48 hours after 61 villagers were abducted in the Buda community of the same Kajuru Local Government Area. Kajuru and Chikun LGs had in recent two weeks become the hot-bed of kidnapping, causing tension in the state. Dauda explained that no contact has been established with the 61 locals abducted on Sunday night in the Buda community. He said, “The only solution to this kidnapping spree is for the government to engage the local hunters and collaborate with the military to comb our forest. There is a need to mount 24-hour surveillance on cattle routes because that’s their route. “The people are going through hard times coupled with the hard economy in the country. These terrorist activities pose great challenges to our farmers, no one can access their land to farm peacefully in the coming rainy season. “How do we surmount the hunger that has grappled our country? The government and the military must be sincere and devise means of tackling these challenges immediately.” When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Mansir Hassan, asked our reporter to send a text message, but as of the time of filing this report, he had not responded.