Flood Sacks Over 100 Households in Benue
The Benue State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, has said that no fewer than 100 households were affected by flood in Makurdi, the state capital, following recent rainfalls. Dr. Emmanuel Shior, the Executive Secretary of the Agency disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Makurdi. He said that the agency had over time, advised people residing on floodplains to relocate in order to avert disaster. Flood had become a yearly routine in Makurdi in the last decade, destroying property worth millions and loss of lives in some cases. The affected areas were among the worst hit in the 2017 flood that displaced over 120,000 persons in Makurdi……… READ MORE 

 

The Adamawa State Police Command has confirmed the killing of a Corps member serving in the State, Ismaila Dawudu. The 28-year-old Ismaila, who hailed from Taraba State, was killed at Yolde Pate NYSC Lodge in Yola South local government area of the State. The spokesperson of the Police Command, SP Suleman Yahaya Ngoruje, confirmed the incident, saying the Command has launched an investigation to unravel the killers. “The Police Command under the leadership of C. P. Sikiru Akande is already carrying out an investigation to find out those behind the Killing and bring them to book. “The Command has already met with the NYSC Officials so that the lives of NYSC members in Adamawa State could be secured,” the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Nguroje said…………. READ MORE 

Heavy Rains Leave 50 Dead, Others Homeless in Jigawa

The Jigawa State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) said that 50 people, including a newborn, were killed in a building collapse due to heavy downpours in different parts of the state. The tragedy occurred across the state at the beginning of the rainy season. The Executive Secretary of the agency, Alhaji Yusuf Sani, told newsmen that several houses were either damaged or destroyed, rendering several families homeless. Sani said the displaced persons were currently taking refuge in 11 temporary camps, while others stayed with their relatives, as the agency was making efforts to open camps to accommodate the victims. He added that the agency had been providing the victims, including those staying with their relatives, with items and other basic needs. Executive Secretary of the agency, Alhaji Yusuf Sani, told newsmen, “The disaster occurred in all the 27 LGAs because it’s a matter of rainfall and we had rain for good three days in Jigawa nonstop. So all the 27 LGAs are affected”……….. READ MORE 

The NBS claims that increases in the cost of bread and cereals, food items, potatoes, yams, and other tubers, as well as meat, fish, oil, and fat, are to blame for the rise in food inflation. In July 2022, Nigeria’s inflation rate reached a 17-year high of 19.64%, according to the National Bureau of Statistics’ recently released Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for the month of July 2022. The latest inflation data represents a 1.04 percent increase from the 18.6% recorded in June 2022. Nigeria’s inflation rate last exceeded 19.64% in September 2005, when it reached 24.32%. This is according to Nairalytics, a web portal that publishes historical macroeconomic data for Nigeria. Notably, increases in the food and core indexes drove the inflation rate up. From a reading of 20.6% in June 2022, food inflation increased to 22.02%. The NBS claims that increases in the cost of bread and cereals, food items, potatoes, yams, and other tubers, as well as meat, fish, oil, and fat, are to blame for the rise in food inflation. Also, core inflation, which excludes the price of erratic agricultural products, increased from 15.75% to 16.26% in July 2022. Prices for gas, liquid fuel, solid fuel, passenger transport by road, passenger transport by air, garments, cleaning, repair, and clothing hire recorded the highest increase for the month of July……… READ MORE 

 

Insecurity Killings, Kidnaping, Govt. Insensitivity Make Nigerians Live In Fear

The pan Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, has described the handling of the security situation in Nigeria by the Federal Government as tantamount to ceding the country into the hands of terrorists, stressing that the government’s insensitivity to the killings and kidnapping across the country makes Nigerians live in fear. A statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the organization, Comrade Jare Ajayi on Monday noted that the confession by President Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesman, Garba Shehu, that terrorists ‘deceived’ the government into releasing his wife and children without releasing victims of Abuja-Kaduna train as very unfortunate and an admission of failure on the part of the government. The organization maintained that the manner insecurity issue is being handled is, unfortunately, lending credence to the views of those who are alleging that there could be a hidden agenda to this issue of banditry, kidnapping, and terrorism, Ajayi stated, “Otherwise, the government would have been more decisive in the way it tackles the monster that is fast eroding the very essence of our being.”……… READ MORE 

U.S. STRATEGY TOWARD SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Sub-Saharan Africa plays a critical role in advancing global priorities to the benefit of Africans and Americans.   It has one of the world’s fastest-growing populations, the largest free trade areas, the most diverse ecosystems, and one of the largest regional voting groups in the United Nations (UN).  It is impossible to meet today’s defining challenges without African contributions and leadership.  The region will factor prominently in efforts to: end the COVID-19 pandemic; tackle the climate crisis; reverse the global tide of democratic backsliding; address global food insecurity; promote gender equity and equality; strengthen an open and stable international system; shape the rules of the world on vital issues like trade, cyber, and emerging technologies; and confront the threat of terrorism, conflict, and transnational crime. Building on the Biden-Harris Administration’s actions and commitments to deepen our engagement and partnerships in Africa during the past year, the strategy articulates our new vision for a 21st Century U.S.-African Partnership.  It recognizes the tremendous, positive opportunities that exist to advance shared interests alongside our African partners.  At the same time, we acknowledge that Africa’s potential will continue to be challenged as long as deadly conflicts divide societies, corruption impedes economic progress, food insecurity heightens the risk of famine and malnutrition, and repression stifles human rights and democratic expression.  As President Biden noted in his address to the African Union last year, “none of this is going to be easy but the United States stands ready now to be your partner, in solidarity, support, and mutual respect.”……… READ MORE 

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has declared that anybody who despises the political capability of the State will be meted with the same treatment. Governor Wike made the declaration at the inauguration of the Orochiri -Worukwo (Waterlines junction) Flyover that was performed by the Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu in Port Harcourt on Monday. The Rivers State governor explained that the dynamics of contemporary politics has made it unpopular to just gift votes away without the assurance of derivable benefit for the people. “If you say Rivers State does not matter, Rivers State will tell you that you don’t also matter at the appropriate time. If you don’t like us, we will not like you. If you like us, we will like you. “Nobody will use our votes for nothing. Our votes will matter and Rivers State must benefit from anybody that we are going to support.“Politics now is no longer just voting for somebody, it is about what you will do for the people of Rivers State.” Governor Wike pointed to how difficult it will be for any conspirators to upset the voting pattern of Rivers State and support for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP…….. READ MORE 
 

Oil Theft: Nigeria Loses 400,000 Barrels Daily, says Sylva

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Timipre Sylva, has said that the country loses 400,000 barrels of crude daily via oil theft. Sylva said this on Monday when he paid a courtesy visit to Gov. Hope Uzodimma of Imo at the Government House, Owerri. He described the development as a “national emergency”. He regretted that the nation had fallen short of OPEC daily quota, from 1.8 million barrels to 1.4 million barrels, due to crude theft. He warned that such a huge economic loss was capable of crippling the nation’s economy, if not given the seriousness it deserved. He expressed concern that the menace had persisted, in spite of the efforts by the Federal and State Governments to arrest it. Sylva said the problem of crude theft could not be handled in Abuja alone. “It is a national emergency because the theft has grown wings and reached a very bad crescendo ……..… READ MORE 

 

 

Fears of Popular Coup as Terrorist Alliance Has Nigerian Capital Under Siege

JOS, Nigeria—Traumatized citizens in Nigeria’s sprawling capital of Abuja are on the verge of a citizens’ revolt, according to a defense consultant who has worked for the  Nigerian military. David Otto, a London-based military expert tells The Epoch Times that a series of stunning hammer blows by a coalition of jihadist insurgents and radicalized bandits has been a win-win for both. “This is an operation orchestrated by a coalition of jihadists and bandits and for different outcomes—while the bandits benefit from the spoils of launching attacks, ISWAP jihadists walk away with their white and black flags raised high to demonstrate their existential threat to Nigeria and the region at large. “Nigeria is in peril,” according to Kyle Abts, executive director of the International Committee on Nigeria (ICON). “There are daily attacks by both ISWAP terrorists and Fulani militants, along with weekly kidnappings and a monthly rise in deaths—since January 2022 an estimated 3,000 innocent people have died, hundreds remain in captivity and thousands upon thousands displaced—and millions of children out of school,” Abts texted to The Epoch Times at the end of a two-week tour of several West African nations ………… READ MORE 

Nigeria Under Siege By Terrorists, On Verge of Collapse, Northern CAN Laments Situation
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19 Northern States and the Federal Capital Territory, yesterday, lamented the increasing insecurity in the country, saying Nigeria was under siege and on the verge of collapse. The Northern CAN, which called on President Muhammadu Buhari, to live up to his constitutional responsibility of protecting the lives and property of the citizenry as well as defend the nation’s sovereignty, however, reaffirmed its stand on the All Progressives Congress (APC) Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket, saying it remained opposed to it. But the Senate Committee Chairman on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, Senator Ayo Akinyelure, has said the worsening insecurity in the country could end within six months if President Buhari signed the National Commission Against the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (Establishment) Bill, 2022. Also, the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Ige Adams, has raised the alarm on the security situation in the country and concluded that the country might have begun to go down, painfully. Meanwhile, the police in Lagos, have braced up a purported terror plan by members of the Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), saying their operatives and other related agencies were prepared to counter any attack in the state …………. READ MORE 
 

Christians in Nigeria More Likely to be Killed in Jihadist Violence – Report

Christians in Nigeria are 10 times more likely to be killed in jihadist attacks than Muslims, new figures show.  The latest figures from the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA) challenge attempts to blame the violence on climate change, historical grievances, or criminality. The ORFA report found that between October 2019 and September 2020, the number of Christians killed in jihadism-related violence was 9.6 times higher than the number of Muslims per capita. In the following year, Christians were 7.8 times more likely to be killed than Muslims. Between October 2019 and September 2021, there were 7,916 recorded deadly attacks on Christians by extremist Islamists. In the same period, 2,235 Muslims were killed. The organization also found a 20 percent rise in deadly attacks on both Christians and Muslims between 2020 and 2021. David Landrum, Director of Advocacy at Open Doors UK and Ireland, is calling on the UK government to acknowledge a religious dimension to the violence. “This evidence is just the tip of the iceberg, and it shows categorically what we know already – that Christians are being especially targeted by extremist Islamic groups in Nigeria,” he said. …………… READ MORE