News & Announcements

Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president, sent a letter to the British court that convicted Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, of organ trafficking.

The former president pleaded with the Chief Clerk of the Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey in London in a letter to step in and make sure the UK government in this case balanced justice with mercy.

Ekweremadu and his wife were convicted guilty of organ trafficking by a London court, and as a result, they might receive a 10-year prison sentence under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act of 2015.

Ekweremadu and his wife were remanded in custody following Mr. Justice Johnson’s guilty findings, and they will be sentenced on May 5.

The young guy complained to UK authorities about the Ekweremadus’ claimed plans to take his organ, which led to their arrest and detention.

However in his letter dated April 3, 2023, Obasanjo stated that the Ekweremadus had learned their lesson and pleaded with the court and UK government to grant them mercy.

The letter read in part, “Mr. Chief Clerk, I am very much aware of the current travails and conviction of Ike Ekweremadu and his wife in the United Kingdom resulting from their being charged with conspiring to arrange the travel of a 21-year-old from Nigeria to the UK in order to harvest organs for their daughter.

“I do realise the implications of their action and I dare say, it is unpleasant and condemnable and can’t be tolerated in any sane or civilised society.

“However, it is my fervent desire for very warm relations between the United Kingdom and Federal Republic of Nigeria; for his position as one of the distinguished Senators in the Nigerian Parliament, and also for the sake of their daughter in question whose current health condition is in danger and requires urgent medical attention, you will use your good offices to intervene and appeal to the court and the government of the United Kingdom to be magnanimous enough to temper justice with mercy and let punishment that may have to come take their good character and parental instinct and care into consideration.

“I do hope Mr. and Mrs. Ekweremadu have learnt from this distressing experience of theirs to guide
their future actions or inactions so they will continue to be outstanding members of their community and will continue to contribute fully to the good of the society in particular and the nation in general.”

N320,345,040, 835 figure has been authorized by President Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s (ret.) administration as the country’s 2023 intervention funding for public tertiary education institutions.

This information was provided by Sonny Echono, the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, on Wednesday in Abuja at the annual strategic planning meeting with all heads of beneficiary institutions.

The conference, according to Echono, was a chance to get input and assess how well its intervention lines were carrying out the agency’s purpose.

Each university would receive N1,154,732,133.00 during the 2023 intervention cycle, according to the head of the TETFund.

Each public polytechnic is also anticipated to earn N699,344,867.00, while each of the nation’s colleges of education will receive N800,862,602.

He said, “I am pleased to inform you that Mr. President has approved the 2023 disbursement guidelines in the total sum of N320,345,040, 835. On the basis of this, each university shall get, for the Year 2023 intervention cycle, the total sum of N1,154,732,133.00.

“This comprises N954,732,123.00 as annual direct disbursement and N200million as zonal intervention. Similarly, each Polytechnic shall get N699,344,867.00 comprising of N569,344,807.00 as annual direct disbursement and N130million as zonal intervention, while each College of education shall get N800,862,602 comprising of N670,862,602.00 as annual direct disbursement and N130million as zonal intervention.

“It is pertinent to note that this represents the highest disbursement to each beneficiary institution, since inception of the Fund.”

Echono went on to say that the tertiary education landscape in Nigeria has significantly improved under the Buhari administration, noting that from 2015 to the present, N1.702 trillion has been distributed as education tax collections to public universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education, compared to N1.249 trillion distributed from the Fund’s inception in 1993 to the end of 2014.

“This remarkable success is due to sustained efforts at expanding and increasing efficiency of collection of the Education Tax and added impetus is the gracious approval of Mr. President for an increase in education tax from 2.0% to 2.5% in the year 2021,” he added.

Echono also encouraged Buhari to sign Budget Bill 2023, which would raise the education tax from 2.5% to 3%, as a parting favor to the field of education.

The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, David Adejo, also spoke and urged the recipient institutions to spend the cash wisely, noting that “the country is no longer looking for paper presentations but what one can achieve with his brain and hands.”

The audit of the 2022 intervention funds distributed to beneficiary institutions is anticipated to be made public at a later time.

The House of Representatives has called for tighter security in and around airports across the country for better protection of lives and property of air passengers.

The call came after a member, Jide Jimoh, moved a resolution of urgent public significance that was unanimously approved during the plenary on Tuesday.

The House voted to adopt the resolution “Need to Maintain Tight Security in and Around Our Airports and Other Important Facilities,” which asked the federal government to “improve on security standards at the airports, especially investigating technology.”

Also, the legislators encouraged the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria and other pertinent aviation agencies to “pay more attention to security concerns and guarantee the lives of citizens are not in any way threatened.”

The House added encouraged security organizations to “make sure that dishonest elements are not permitted to incite disturbance in any guise at the airports.”

Jimoh based his motion on an incident that took place at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on Friday night, when Obiajulu Uja, a passenger on an Ibom Air trip between Abuja and Lagos, demonstrated against Bola Tinubu’s inauguration as president on May 29, 2023.

Uja was removed from the aircraft in the viral footage that went viral on Saturday after he began a solitary protest demanding that the President-elect never be sworn in as President.

After delaying the plane for more than an hour, it took no fewer than six airport security guards to help him leave.

Stressing the motion, Jimoh said, “The House notes that a man reportedly caused a stir on an Abuja-Lagos flight over the weekend, thereby holding the aircraft for over an hour as it could not move until operatives of the airport eventually evacuated the man.

“The House further notes that security comes first and there is a need to take permanent and aggressive steps to improve the security of our airports. The event of Friday, March 31, 2023, is a call to take precaution on passengers’ activities in the airports.

“The House is concerned that security at the airports seems relaxed, as the said man should not have been allowed into the aircraft in the first place since reports had been made that the man had allegedly portrayed himself as an irritant around the airport before being cleared into the flight, only for him to constitute himself into a risk.

“The House is further concerned that the lives of the innocent law-abiding citizens on board the aircraft were avoidably endangered by the security breach, whereas the government had the responsibility to protect the citizens at all times.

“The House is convinced that the government or any of its agencies, including the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, will not shy away from its responsibility.”

For this year’s Easter celebration, the Federal Government has designated Friday, April 7, and Monday, April 10, 2023 as public holidays.

Rauf Aregbesola, the interior minister, announced it in Abuja.

Aregbesola asked Christians to imitate Jesus Christ’s qualities of selflessness, unity, forgiveness, kindness, love, peace, and patience as demonstrated by His earthly ministry in a statement released on Wednesday and signed by the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Shuaib Begore.

The minister urged Christians and other Nigerians to embrace the occasion of the Easter holiday this year to pray for an end to the country’s security issues.

Aregbesola said “Security is everybody’s business. I, therefore, urge Nigerians and foreigners resident in our country to display a high sense of citizenship and public spiritedness by supporting the efforts of all security agencies in bringing peace and security of lives and property of the citizenry”

The minister gave the assurance that the Federal Government is taking all necessary steps to guarantee a peaceful transfer of power following the peaceful election process.

He also exhorts Christians to love their neighbors by performing deeds of kindness and showing generosity of spirit, with the wealthy sharing their possessions with those who are less fortunate around them. He wishes Christians at home and in the Diaspora a joyful and peaceful Easter celebration.

Aregbesola reassures Nigerians once more that their country is steadfastly on the path to greatness and exhorts everyone to positively channel their creative energies toward realizing the full benefits of the impending riches.

The Air Operator’s Certificates’ validity duration has been extended, according to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.

Scheduled and non-scheduled operators will receive extensions of five years and three years, respectively.

The new validity period gives airlines the flexibility to conduct their business without interference, and it should be noted that fees and levies have not been modified since 2009.

This information was provided at a stakeholder consultation on the proposed NCAA regulation 2023 on Tuesday in Abuja by the chairman of the Regulations Committee, Engr. Godwin Balang.

Balang stated, “The validity period of the AOC has been extended to five years for scheduled operators and three years for non-scheduled operators just to give AOC holders some freedom to carry out their operations.”

The Director General NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu, revealed the revised penalties upwards for offenders in the industry in his opening remarks. The maximum penalty for airlines is N10 million, while the minimum is N1 million.

However, Nuhu emphasized that the International Civil Aviation Organization’s guidelines were used to influence the upward revision of penalties rather than acting as a punishment.

He continued by saying that the Civil Aviation Act 2022, Section 31 of which gives the NCAA the ability to issue regulations on all things pertaining to civil aviation, encapsulates the NCAA’s jurisdiction to control civil aviation in Nigeria.

Nuhu said,” As required by Article 37 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Adoption of International Standards and Procedures), these Regulations are made to cover and domesticate all ICAO Standards that are contained in the relevant Annexes.”

The laws also cover important national issues, the NCAA president stated.

In order to exercise its authority to make regulations under this section, the authority must consult with stakeholders, including airlines, aerodrome operators, providers of air traffic control services, consumers, and other pertinent bodies and organizations in the aviation industry, according to him. Section 31(5) of the Civil Aviation Act 2022 imposes this obligation on the authority.

Stakeholders are also encouraged to take note that the NCAA will reply to all comments received in response to the Notice of Proposed Amendments published on February 12, 2023, in line with the approved NCAA rule-making process handbook.

He said,” I am optimistic that during these three days of deliberation, the aviation professionals and experts present physically or virtually will assist the Authority to derive near-perfect Regulations for the advancement of Civil Aviation in Nigeria.”

Key participants in the interactive session raised the issue of some operators being penalized unfairly for actions that were not thoroughly examined and without any mention of the International Civil Aviation Organization or any other regulating agency.

However, they questioned whether ICAO guidelines were being followed and the authority’s justification for unilaterally raising fees and punishing airlines.

In his answer, the DG reaffirmed that the agency’s actions were in accordance with ICAO rules and that when they compared their fees to those of other organizations throughout the world in terms of dollars, they discovered that theirs was remarkably cheap.

Nigeria has not been this split since the 1967–1970 Civil War, according to Muhammad Sanusi, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

He added that the integrity of government institutions had been called into doubt because of how the elections had left the nation “dangerously split along ethnic and religious lines.”

“The people now have suspicions about policies, policing, judiciary and the election umpire,” he said.

At the third Nigerian Leadership Colloquium held on Tuesday in honor of Ituah Ighodalo, the senior pastor of Trinity House in Lagos, who turned 62, Sanusi delivered the statements.

The event was titled “A new Nigeria: Leadership imperatives for radical growth and transformation,” and it took place on Tuesday in Lagos.

In his speech delivered through Zoom, Sanusi said that the nation-building task before the nation was now a difficulty, and that the economy was currently in a slump.

His words were, “In October 2022, speaking at the Kaduna Investment Forum, I told Nigerians that if anyone told them that dealing with Nigeria post-2023 would be easy, they should not vote for that person. I meant it.

“I don’t think Nigeria has been in a place as difficult as this since the civil war. We have a challenge of nation building.

“We have a country that has been divided dangerously along ethnic and religious lines.

“We have an economy that is in the doldrums, and unfortunately, we seem to be having a dearth of leadership.”

He contends that in addition to identifying the types of leaders the nation requires, it also has to critically examine the method by which those leaders are selected.

“No process is perfect. We have seen so in the United Kingdom and the United States. At the very least, the people should know who they are voting for.  I think we need to begin to look at the Electoral Act, 2022 much more earlier than elections.  We need to have a system where one cannot just go to participate in party primaries without being exposed to public scrutiny. This is what happens everywhere. People need to know what they are voting for. In other climes, they are compelled by law to participate in public debates to discuss issues of policy.

“This is the only country I know where we elect a President first before knowing if he knows what he is doing or whether he understands what the job is,” he added.

He added that Nigerians’ selection of their leaders ought to be done in a more open and accountable manner.

The parents of Whitney Adeniran, a 12-year-old student at Chrisland International School Limited, who passed away on February 9, 2023, while participating in inter-house sports at the Agege Sports Stadium, will give testimony during a coroner’s inquest on April 17 at the Ogba Magistrate’s Court.

This information was provided by the inquest magistrate, Olabisi Fajana, in her ruling on the school’s request for samples and materials so that it may independently assess the autopsy report produced by the Lagos State Government on Tuesday.

The coroner recently agreed to the school’s request to contact an outside pathologist in an effort to determine the actual cause of the student’s death.

A coroner’s inquest was mandated by the state government on February 13 in order to determine Whitney’s cause of death.

On March 2, the authorities declared that Whitney died as a result of electrocution and asphyxia, according to the results of the autopsy.

The hearing was then scheduled to begin on April 4 with the coroner’s inquiry.

But, on April 3, the school requested a court order requesting access to and delivery of certain items from the Chief Medical Examiner of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital or another pertinent officer in order to consult with an independent pathologist.

Akin George, the state’s attorney, did not object to the application, therefore the magistrate postponed making a decision until April 4.

On Tuesday, when the subject was discussed, Magistrate Fajana granted all of the applicant’s requests.

She directed that, on the day of the forensic consultation, the applicant’s pathologist’s lab get all the materials stated there from the Chief Medical Examiner of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital.

Fajana commanded that the consultation be overseen by the CMD or other pertinent officer.

The deceased’s parents will also be there.

The court also ordered a testimony from the deceased parents on April 17.

The Kaduna State Government says it has received preliminary reports from security agencies on the kidnapping of about 10 students in Kachia Local Government Area of the state.

In a statement released on Tuesday in Kaduna, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, acknowledged the occurrence.

According to early reports, 10 pupils from the day secondary school Government Secondary School, Awon, were abducted on Monday.

“The exact location of the incident is yet to be ascertained but detailed reports being awaited will clarify whether the incident occurred within the school premises or elsewhere.

“The government will issue a public statement accordingly, when these reports are received,” he said.

In response to the murder of Desmond Rukevwe Obukhowo, also known as Mayor, a final-year student, the administration of the University of Benin in Edo State has proclaimed Tuesday, April 4, 2023 a lecture-free day.

The victim, a public administration student in the 400-level, was shot in the face at close range on Monday night around 9 o’clock. Before he was slain, he also served as the school’s Kegite chief.

Dr. Benedicta Ehanire, the school’s public relations officer, urged the university community to be calm in a news release on Monday, emphasizing that investigations were ongoing to determine the cause of the killing.

She said, “Tuesday 4th April, 2023, has been declared lecture-free by the management of the University of Benin following the traumatic murder incident which occurred at the University’s campus on Monday night.

“The Management further appeals to members of the University community to remain calm as efforts are being intensified to ensure the safety of staff and students while security agencies are investigating the sad incident.

“Management again prays to God to comfort the family and colleagues of the deceased and to grant his soul peaceful rest,” she added.

The administration had earlier issued a calm-down order, telling everyone that the offender would be brought to justice and that the university’s internal security team was coordinating with the police to make sure that such a heinous act never occurred there again.

Timothy, brother of television presenter, Phillip Schofield, was found guilty of sexually abusing a teenage boy over a period of three years from the age of 13, DailyMail reports on Monday.

Timothy admitted to watching pornography and engaging in sex acts with the schoolboy, but claimed he did so only when the alleged victim was over the age of 16.

However, the court today found that he had begun sexually abusing the boy years before, including pressuring him into performing sex acts on him.

Schofield pleaded not guilty but was found guilty at Exeter Crown Court of 11 counts of sexual assault.

Today, Phillip immediately distanced himself from his paedophile sibling, saying: “ As far as I am concerned, I no longer have a brother”.