Author: Anthony Pratt

The Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, has pledged the support of the House for the Nigerian Army with the goal of sustaining the peace experienced in the State.

Dr. Obasa gave the assurance on Thursday when he received Brigadier General Olawale Matthew Oyekola, 48th Commander of the 9 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, who visited the House of Assembly with his team.

In a statement by his chief Press Secretary, Eromosele Ebhomele, the speaker says the State’s legislature with 40 lawmakers is committed to ensuring peace and stability in all the local government areas of Lagos and welcomes every support from the right quarters in this regard.

“I want to assure you of our total support. Our arms are wide open. When you need us, all you have to do is just call on us. We are at the House of Assembly to protect the people’s interests, their rights and ensure they do what they are supposed to do.

“We love peace in Lagos, which you can call a mini-Nigeria. And with your coming, we hope to sustain the peace we have in the State.

“Our interest is to prosper Lagos economically, socio-politically and in infrastructure,” the Speaker said while commending Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for his policies that have kept the State growing.

Obasa used the opportunity to hail men of the military who, he described as gallant, for their dedication and loyalty to Nigeria.

He specially commended the military men tackling insecurities in some parts of the country, particularly in the Northeast.

Speaking earlier, Brigadier General Oyekola said he was in the House to associate with the representatives of the people of Lagos who he and his men are mandated to protect.

Noting that he was returning to Lagos 20 years after he left the State, he said Lagos is peaceful and that this status needed to be sustained.

He solicited the support of Lagosians for the Army, which he called the third layer of protection with the Nigeria Police Force as the first layer.

“Wearing this uniform does not make us different from the people. We are first civilians before becoming men in uniforms,” he said.

General Oyekola resumed at the Brigade’s Headquarters in Ikeja, Lagos on August 21, 2024 after previously serving as Chief of Staff at the Headquarters of the Joint Task Force (North East) Operation HADIN KAI.

Nigerian president, Bola Tinubu has signed into law, a bill seeking a 300 percent increase in salaries and allowances for judicial officials.

The Special Adviser to the President on Senate Matters, Basheer Lado revealed this in a statement.

Lado says this move underscores President Tinubu’s commitment to the “welfare of Nigerian workers above all else”.

“This extraordinary move underscores Mr President’s absolute prioritization of the welfare of Nigerian workers above all else just like he did when he recently put on hold an ongoing Federal Executive Council meeting to assent to the new National Minimum Wage Bill of N70,000,” he said.

He added that the new Act “prescribes salaries, allowances, etc., for Judicial Officers to reflect the changing realities and consequentially amend the provisions of the Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc.), Act, No.6, 2002 (as amended) to delete the provisions relating to Judicial Office Holders.”

“This landmark decision reflects Mr. President’s profound dedication to ensuring that every salary earner in Nigeria, especially those serving in vital and strategic roles, receives the recognition and compensation they deserve.

“By prioritizing the financial well-being of our judicial officers, Mr. President is not only reinforcing the integrity of our justice system but also setting a new standard for leadership that truly values the hard work and sacrifices of all Nigerian workers.

“Under President Tinubu’s administration, the welfare of our workers has become a central pillar of national progress.

“His visionary policies continue to uplift the lives of millions, ensuring that the dignity of labour is upheld and that those who serve our nation are justly rewarded.

“This assent is a clear testament to Mr. President’s tireless efforts to build a more prosperous and equitable Nigeria, where every worker is empowered to contribute to the nation’s greatness.

“As we look to the future with hope and determination, Mr. President remains steadfast in his mission to champion initiatives that deliver fair compensation, improved working conditions, and a brighter future for all Nigerians.”

The National Assembly had in June this year passed into law the Judicial Office Holders Salaries and Allowances Bill.

The passage followed the consideration and adoption of an executive bill transmitted by President Tinubu seeking to ensure improved salaries and allowances for judicial officers and workers in the country.

The Nigerian government has taken delivery of newly manufactured Compressed Natural Gas, CNG buses.

The government sees this feat as a significant innovation in the nation’s transport infrastructure.

At the unveiling in Abuja on Monday, President Bola Tinubu says utilizing natural gas to power the transportation industry is a major economic necessity.

While thanking Innoson Motors for delivering the convertible buses, President Tinubu noted that about 80 percent of petrol demand in the country costs trillions of naira each month for commercial vehicles.

He thanked INNOSON and other vehicle manufacturers for helping to change the narrative.

“If we can enhance our energy competitiveness and bring about transformative changes like this, we would definitely be able to achieve the prosperity that we are working hard to accomplish for our people.

These buses along with the CNG and being convertible is very encouraging and promising to enhance our transportation system. Countries like India have mandated CNG for commercial vehicles since 2004 and in Nigeria, commercial vehicles make up about 80 percent of our petrol demand, costing us trillions of naira each month.

The solution is here. We have it, we will work on it. We promise you, definitely things will get better, prosperity will be achieved.”

Presenting the buses earlier, Chairperson of Depots and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN),
Winifred Akpani, expressed delight that the hybrid CNG buses were manufactured and delivered by an indigenous company, Innoson motors.

She stressed that the buses are capable transporting 100 people and can equally run on diesel.

And to ensure proper maintenance and durability, Mrs Akpani said each bus will have two drivers, who will be trained at the facility that they have been manufactured, with direct supervision of DAPPMAN.

“And we continue to assure this government of our full support as marketers. We will continue to go the extra mile to ease the problems of all of us not just the downtrodden but everybody.

“We believe that these buses will be put to use especially since we know that more donations are coming and we thank the President for this opportunity.

I’ll like to state that as part of our delivery, we’ve made provision that each of these buses will have two drivers and we are going to have trained at the facility that they have been manufactured”.

She explained that the DAPPMAN has so far delivered thirty out of the 50 buses promised last year , adding that the association hopes to deliver a hundred.

The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has dismissed reports that it has pulled out of the planned nationwide protest over the current economic hardship in the country.

The NLC says it cannot withdraw from a protest that it did not organise.

The protest, scheduled for August 1, is being organised by unidentified individuals and groups, who are mobilising on social media.

President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, in a statement signed by him on Wednesday, denied reports that the labour union had withdrawn from the protest.

The statement partly read: “A news report of the withdrawal of the Nigeria Labour Congress from the widely discussed national protest has been brought to our attention. The Nigeria Labour Congress debunks such story as patently false.

“The truth is that the Nigeria Labour Congress cannot withdraw from a protest that it did not organise. It is only the organisers of the speculated national protest that can decide to pull out or continue with the protest.

“The Nigeria Labour Congress has internal trade union mechanisms especially leadership decision-making processes that its industrial actions such as protests pass through before such activities are undertaken.

He added: “The fact that the Nigeria Labour Congress is not the body organising the protest does not mean that Organised Labour is oblivious to the dire living conditions Nigerians have been subjected to by the harsh economic policies of government.

The NLC President reiterated that it is in “solidarity with the Nigerian people in this very trying and excruciating times.

“We have called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to invite the leaders of the protest movement to dialogue on their demands.

“We have advised that it would be counter-productive for the government to meet the widespread anger in the land with brute force.

The labour union again appealed to the federal government as well as the governments at the Sub-national levels to listen to the cries of Nigerians over the prevailing economic hardships.

“Once again, we implore the Federal Government and the sub-national governments to listen to the cries of the Nigerian people and do the needful. After all, it is said that the voice of the people is the voice of God.”

Tinubu Appeals to Youths to Shelve Protests

Meanwhile, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday urged Nigerians to give the government more time for economic policies to bear fruit.

The President, who spoke through Minister for Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, appealed to Nigerians for understanding and more time to enable him to tackle the mounting challenges and clear the path to a new lease of life.

Idris conveyed the President’s message while speaking with reporters at the State House in Abuja.

He said President Tinubu was not aloof to the grievances of those planning the protest, adding that he is committed to ensuring a better future for Nigeria.

The minister alluded to the quick passage of the National Minimum Wage Bill by the National Assembly as evidence of President Tinubu’s commitment to swift action.

After many years of evading arrest, operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA have arrested the overall head of the Mushin, Lagos drug cartel, Alhaji Sulaiman Jimoh (alias Olowoidiogede, populary known as Temo.

The 57-year-old was picked up at his enclave after an initial resistance from him and his gangs.

In a statement, spokesman for the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi said ‘in the last two years, the NDLEA had intercepted large consignments of illicit drugs worth billions of naira owned by Temo but he has remained largely evasive while a few encounters with him and his armed gangs in his Mushin enclave had resulted in gunfight.’

Some of the recent seizures of his shipments include: a 14, 524.8 kilograms of Ghana Loud, a strong strain of cannabis sativa, smuggled into Lagos from Ghana in two trucks and a J5 bus intercepted at Ojuelegba area of Lagos in the early hours of Sunday 28th January 2024; two truck-loads of the same substance weighing 8,852kg intercepted at Eleko beach, Lekki Lagos on 4th May 2023 and 252kg of Loud seized from his enclave in Mushin on Wednesday 26th July 2023.

The NDLEA said the drug kingpin was very notorious for always being on the move to evade arrest but with persistence and determination of the Agency aided by modern tools and intelligence, the concerted effort to get him paid off at 10am on Monday 22nd July 2024 when NDLEA’s surveillance teams on his trail tracked and pinned him down at Igbarere street, Mushin.

A reinforcement of about 50 operatives was immediately mobilized to the area while he was attempting to escape in a Mercedes Benz SUV GLE 350 marked 01G-300G.

His attempt to escape by mobilizing hoodlums to engage and distract the operatives however failed after which he was overpowered and whisked away from the chaotic scene while his men surrendered to the superior firepower of the anti-narcotic agents who also succeeded in recovering the Mercedes Benz SUV the suspect was found in.

In his reaction to the arrest of Temo, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) commended the officers and men of the Lagos State Command, Special Monitoring Task Force and other formations tasked with the assignment of getting Temo arrested for their resilience, vigilance, and professionalism.

He urged them to intensify the heat on all drug cartels wherever they are located.

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have again intercepted another batch of seven containers bearing one million, two hundred and twenty nine thousand, four hundred bottles of codeine syrup.

The consignment is worth over Nine Billion, Eight Hundred and Thirty Five Million, Two Hundred Thousand Naira at the Port Harcourt Ports complex, Onne, Rivers state.

This comes barely three weeks after seizing six thousand, one hundred and twenty-five (6,125) cartons of codeine syrup containing one million and fifty thousand bottles of the opioid, worth over seven billion three hundred and fifty million naira in street value, at the same Onne port.

The latest seizure made on Thursday 18th July 2024 is the fourth and last set of such consignments that have been under the watchlist of the Agency’s Maritime Special Operations Unit Targetting Team, which worked in partnership with the Port Harcourt Ports Command of the Agency and other security agencies including the Customs Service.

The discovery followed credible intelligence and months of diligent tracking of the consignments from their port of departure.

At the joint examination of the containers with other security agencies on Thursday, all the seven containers were found bearing a total of 8,774 cartons of codeine-based cough syrup with 1, 229, 400 bottles weighing 184,410 kilograms.

A breakdown of the shipments that came from India via the Maersk Vigo Vessel shows that the container marked SEKU 6439421 has 875 cartons with 175,000 bottles of codeine weighing 26,250kg. Other items in the container include 70 cartons of chilli cutters and 55 cartons of hyregra tablets weighing 1,100kg.

Another container marked CMAU 9410422 contains 875 cartons of codeine with 175,000 bottles weighing 26,250 kg. Other items in the container include 15 cartons of chilli cutters and 60 cartons of hyregra tablets weighing 1,200 kg. Also, the container marked TLLU 7595503 has a total of 1, 754 cartons of codeine syrup containing 179, 400 bottles weighing 26,910kg.

Four other containers marked: TRHU 515117; CMAU 7877125; CMAU 8533700; and CMAU 3882205 contain 175,000 bottles of the same substance each in addition to other items such as chilli cutters, cartons of hyregra tablets and diclofenac used to mask the shipments.

In his response to the latest seizure, Chairman/ Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) commended all the officers, men and women of the various formations of the Agency that had been working on the targeted containers for months for their diligence, vigilance and professionalism.

He equally praised the support received from other stakeholders at the ports that enabled the seamless and successful operations in the course of targeting the shipments. He said the operation, which had inflicted heavy losses on the cartels behind the shipments has further degraded their capacity and financial base.