News Highlights for December

Insecurity: Women task Buhari over killings in North West
The President of Leah Foundation, Dr. Gloria Puldu has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to resign over his failure to address the current killings in North West and other parts of the country. She noted that President Buhari seems to have run out of ideas in tackling the prevailing security challenges that have claimed hundreds of lives across the nation. Dr. Puldu disclosed this on Monday in Jos during a protest in solidarity with Women in North-Western Nigeria over the persistent killings in the region. “If we don’t expect anything better from President Muhammadu Buhari, if he is incapable of addressing the current security challenges, then he should give way. If truly Buhari does not have the capacity to handle the security of this country, he should resign, he shouldn’t wait to be impeached, he should resign and leave…..… READ MORE 

Buhari government no longer values sacredness of life, says Bishop Kukah
Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday condemned the renewed terrorist killings in Kaduna State, saying that the gruesome nature of recent incidents in Kauran Fawa, Marke, and Ruhiya of Idasu Ward of Giwa Local Government Area, has made him particularly sad and the killings unacceptable. Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed this in a statement titled ‘President Buhari condemns gruesome terrorist killings in Kaduna State’. Shehu said bandits within the week have also killed citizens in Zangon Kataf, Chikun, Birnin Gwari, Igabi, and Kauru LGAs of Kaduna State….…READ MORE

Kaduna State Government Bans Social Events in Public Schools Premises
All social events, weddings, shows and entertainment on public school premises have been banned by the Kaduna State government. Dr Yusuf Saleh, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education explained that the move was to protect school infrastructure from vandals. Speaking to newsmen in Kaduna, he said, “For a very long time some of our schools were being used for all kinds of activities, and at the end of the day, school facilities were being vandalised.” He explained that every day, the state government received complaints and demands from citizens to construct, renovate, or fix one facility or the other in schools, adding that it involves a lot of money….… READ MORE 

Buhari Reacts as Terrorists Kill 38 People in Kaduna
Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday condemned the renewed terrorist killings in Kaduna State, saying that the gruesome nature of recent incidents in Kauran Fawa, Marke and Ruhiya of Idasu Ward of Giwa Local Government Area, has made him particularly sad and the killings unacceptable. Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed this in a statement titled ‘President Buhari condemns gruesome terrorist killings in Kaduna State’. Shehu said bandits within the week have also killed citizens in Zangon Kataf, Chikun, Birnin Gwari, Igabi and Kauru LGAs of Kaduna State….…READ MORE

Herdsmen Seized and Renamed 102 Plateau Communities
“Security agents see them, know they are occupying our homes” one villager exclaimed. Another shared, “Women, children who ran to schools were trailed, killed”. Long before the current widespread insecurity across Nigeria, Plateau State had been a theatre of killings-no thanks to conflicts between the natives and nomadic herdsmen. The bloodbath, which has continued till date on an alarming scale, has left thousands killed and displaced since 2001. Apart from killings, which seem to have become the new normal, the natives are claiming that 102 communities have been annexed by herders…… READ MORE 

As Inflation Bites, Nigeria Small Businesses Struggle to Survive
Higher prices for food, fuel, and other raw materials are squeezing small business owners in Nigeria and their customers. Every morning, Esther George rises before dawn to prepare a cooler of rice and a large pot of beans, as well as yams and an assortment of other staple foods to reheat and sell to customers from a roadside table in Lagos. Before the coronavirus pandemic, the mother of three would clear a monthly profit ranging from roughly 10,000 ($24.40) to 15,000 Naira ($36.60), she said.  But this year, she’s fallen deeper and deeper into the red, racking up monthly deficits between 30,000 ($73) and 40,000 Naira ($97.40)….…READ MORE
 

Fulani Jihadists Seize 102 Indigenous Lands in Plateau State
Here is the list of 120 indigenous lands in Plateau State starting from year 2001. The shocking details is contained in a petition written to the Plateau State government by Emancipation Center For Crisis Victims in Nigeria (ECCVN) in collaboration with other ethics groups in Plateau State.

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Nigeria Loses 50% Annual Crop Production to Pests

Nigeria loses 50 per cent of its annual crop production to the damages of pests, the Federal Government announced on Monday. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohammed Mahmood, announced this in Abuja at a press conference organised by the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service to mark the International Day of Plant Health. He said, “We must take plant health seriously because plants are in constant danger of attack by viruses, bacteria, nematodes, insects, aphids and fungi….… READ


IPOB’s Kanu Identifies “Biggest Threat to Nigeria”

Kanunta Kanu, younger brother of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), on Monday posited that anti-corruption agencies “and those who appointed them are the biggest threat to Nigeria”. According to Kanunta, his group, IPOB, is not Nigeria’s problem. The separatist was reacting to a news about the country’s anti-corruption agencies recovering roughly N900 billion (about $2.2 billion) in stolen assets over the last two decades. He fumed at the continual borrowing by Nigerian authorities despite the stolen funds recovery……READ MORE


Three Killed, Many Injured As Farmers, Herdsmen Clash In Jigawa
The government and security agencies had swung into action to restore law and order in the area. No fewer than three persons have been killed while many others sustained various degrees of injuries in a violent clash between farmers and cattle herders in Kirikasamma Local Government Area of Jigawa State. The local government information officer, Sunusi Doro, said the government and security agencies had swung into action to restore law and order in the area. Doro said the incident happened at Madaci and Iyo communities but that officials were still awaiting the report of what led to the deadly clash……READ MORE