News & Announcements

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) apologized to customers for the Monday morning delay in providing train services along the Abuja-Kaduna route.

In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Monday, Mr. Pascal Nnorli, Manager, Abuja-Kaduna Train Service (AKTS), said that the delay was caused by a deficit in the supply of diesel.

“The management of the NRC sincerely apologises to our esteemed customers who may have experienced delay in our Abuja-Kaduna train service on Monday, Jan. 23.

“The delay was caused by the supply of diesel/AGO, which fell short of the specification required to operate our rolling stock, which was out rightly rejected after statutory laboratory test.

“The compulsory laboratory test is carried out on all liquid that is used on the rolling stock, locomotives inclusive to ensure that the right specifications are utilised,’’ Nnorli said.

The manager thanked its passengers for continued patronage and pledged the commitment of the corporation for better services going forward.

Sierra Leone has passed a law requiring public and private entities to reserve 30 percent of their jobs for women in a bid to tackle gender imbalances in a male-dominated society.

In addition to the 30 percent quota, the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act assures women at least 14 weeks of maternity leave, equal pay and training opportunities.

Signing the bill into law on Thursday, President Julius Maada Bio said it would “address the gender imbalances in this country comprehensively. We have to make sure it works.

“We must end the impunity or violence against women in elections and public life and punish all persons and entities found guilty of such violence,” he added.

Women in Sierra Leone suffer from discrimination and, according to Human Rights Watch, it has been common practice to fire them if they get pregnant.

Power utility Eskom says that it has not announced permanent stage 2 and 3 load shedding in South Africa.

Responding to various reports on Sunday declaring permanent stage 2 and stage 3 load shedding is hitting the country for the next two years, Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said that this was a measure that was considered but ultimately rejected.

“Eskom has considered implementing permanent Stage 2 and 3 load shedding to give more predictability to the public. As (chief executive) Andrè de Ruyter stated during the session, 0000000 is not possible as it would not guarantee that load shedding would remain at the lower levels,” he said.

“(Headlines implying) there will be permanent stage 2 and 3 load shedding (are) inaccurate.”

The apparent confusion over permanent load shedding emanates from comments made by Eskom chairperson Mpho Makwana who stated that permanent load shedding would have to be implemented to give Eskom room to conduct necessary maintenance to its power stations and to give some level of predictability or consistency to South Africans impacted by blackouts.

He said that Eskom’s recovery plan would unfortunately not play out quickly and that it would take at least two years for the power utility to get its energy availability factor (EAF) up to 70%.

“The recovery of generation performance will not happen within a short space of time, the execution of the recovery plan requires that power stations are given space and headroom to execute the recovery plan this requires either adding additional capacity to create space to do proper maintenance without firefighting or create some predictability by implementing a permanent stage 2 or 3 for the next two years in order to give sufficient space for maintenance while giving the country a level of predictability or consistency to plan the livelihoods better. Shuttling from one stage to another within a short space of time is not good for the business community.”

As part of the recovery plan, Eskom will be addressing systemic issues, especially those relating to leadership and the power utility’s entire organizational culture.

Makwena called on all South Africans to assist with the power crisis by using power sparingly. Over time, various strategies to help mitigate the problem will be looked at, including rooftop solar rollout and using mini power stations.

Later during the same presentation, Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter said that permanent stage 2 and stage 3 load shedding would not guarantee that Eskom could keep load shedding at those levels and that the instability of the grid would lead to instances of higher stages of load shedding.

He did not say that this plan was not happening, however – this was only clarified later.

Whether it is Eskom’s official plan to move to permanent load shedding or not is effectively moot. South Africa has been in permanent load shedding since September 2022.

With the exception of a day or two over the festive period, South Africans have been subjected to load shedding every day since load shedding escalated in the last quarter of 2022, with stages ranging from stage 1 to stage 6.

So far, in 2023, load shedding has hit every single day of the year, with stage 6 implemented for the longest continuous period so far.

By all accounts – from analysts, economists, energy experts, and Eskom itself – load shedding is not going away any time soon and is, in fact, expected to get worse before it gets better.

Experts have warned that the winter months will bring increased demand, and with a shortfall of close to 6,000MW – before counting planned maintenance and breakdowns – higher stages of load shedding are expected.

Speaking to the instability and unpredictability of the grid, Eskom’s planned load-shedding schedule for the week ahead was again changed in the early hours of Monday morning (23 January) after two units broke down at Eskom’s power stations.

Load shedding will now remain at stage 3 for longer, and escalate to stage 4 in the evening. You can find the new schedules here.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has detained a leper named Haruna Abdullahi and a 67-year-old blindgrandfather d Aliyu Adebiyi for drug trafficking.

Adebiyi was found in possession of 234 kilograms of cannabis, according to a statement released on Sunday by Mr. Femi Babafemi, Director of Media and Advocacy at the NDLEA.

The statement read, “In Osun State, NDLEA officers on Friday took into custody a blind 67-year-old grandpa, Aliyu Adebiyi, in whose house they found 234kg of cannabis at Sokoto village, Owena Ijesa, Atakumosa East LGA. In his statement, he said a drug dealer kept the consignment with him for a fee of N6,000 per month and paid for three months upfront.”

He mentioned that 45-year-old Abdullahi, who is infamous for peddling drugs, was apprehended in Kano’s Garko town on Thursday, and that 2.2 kilograms of cannabis and varying amounts of diazepam and exol were found on him.

According to the governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, the state invested $150 million in several places for flood control and erosion management.

Obaseki said this at the Edo State Flood, Erosion, and Watershed Management Agency’s ceremonial inauguration last weekend in Benin.

The Edo FEWMA is a brand-new organization created by the government to maintain the advancements made in erosion control and flood management that were started under the Edo State Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project, which was funded in part by the World Bank.

According to Crusoe Osagie, the governor’s special adviser on media projects, in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Benin, Obaseki gave the assurance that the government would continue its efforts to safeguard the environment and ensure better living conditions for the people of Edo.

The governor bemoaned the fact that most of the environmental issues the state was facing were man-made.

He mentioned that the administration was making important strides toward creating a progressive, wealthy Edo that was climate change resistant and based on circular economic development.

In order to ensure adequate engineering design and erosion control systems, Obaseki advised that any entity planning to build roads in the state—including the Niger Delta Development Commission—must first register its design with the Edo FEWMA.

Obaseki stated, “Over the last 10 years, we have spent over $150 million trying to repair what we have damaged by ourselves.

“We should ask ourselves if this is the way we should continue to go. Can we not prevent some of these things that are leading to the environmental challenges we are faced with?

“Majority of the cases are all man-made. You have a contractor, who was given a contract, and he decides to begin construction, but he doesn’t share the plan, and he doesn’t tell how the water will be terminated.

“He does his own, collects his money and leaves the problem with the communities. That is a major cause of the problem we are having with erosion control.

“So, as a government, we will insist, going forward, that no agency, not federal, not local, even the NDDC, will undertake projects without coming to register with Edo FEWMA because you just can’t come to the state to say you have a contract, you begin to work and not let us know the extent of engineering drawings and how you are going to deal with issues of erosion control.

“As you know in Edo State, over the years, due to neglect, we are now witnessing many challenges that we didn’t see before, particularly gully erosion.”

He added, “The way we have lived in the last 20 years or more, I don’t think we should continue that way; we behave as if our environment does not matter, and nobody cares about land management.

“Communities sell and do not care about planning. People build where they should not and the water that should flow through a natural path does not have a way to go and goes where it shouldn’t and begins to wash away the land. As a government, this has become our priority.

“Our number one priority is our environment because we cannot continue to behave the way we are behaving now.

“If our forefathers had behaved this way, we will not be living here. We can hardly see trees and this means the land cannot hold water if there are no trees.

“So, the environment is a very serious area of focus which we must pay attention to and it is because we have not been paying attention to the environment that is why we have the challenges we have today,” he added.

Chris Ohizu, the kidnapped sole administrator of Imo State’s Ideato North Local Government Area, has been beheaded.

The council chief was killed on Sunday after his kidnappers allegedly received N6 million ransom.

On Sunday, a video of his beheading appeared online, with his killers adamant that there would be no election in the nation.

The killers of the lone administrator posted videos of the beheading on his WhatsApp status using the victim’s phone, according to a source from the LGA who wished to remain anonymous.

The source said, “The sole administrator has been beheaded. We saw videos of how he was being beheaded on Sunday. His killers posted it with his phone on his own WhatsApp status. That was how people got to know that he was beheaded.

The source said, “The sole administrator has been beheaded. We saw videos of how he was being beheaded on Sunday. His killers posted it with his phone on his own WhatsApp status. That was how people got to know that he was beheaded.

“The videos were horrible. He was tied and half naked before he was beheaded. That was a painful way to die. They butchered him after collecting N6 million ransom.”

Henry Okoye, a spokesman for the state’s police, acknowledged the occurrence when reached and merely stated “investigation is ongoing.”

Following the burning of his country house in the Imoko community in the Arondizuogu region of the LGA, the murdered lone administrator was kidnapped on Friday along with two others.

He was shot before he was taken away.

A train on the Warri-Itakpe line carrying 148 passengers and 38 staff members narrowly avoided being killed on Sunday when the train crashed inside the Kogi forest, leaving the passengers stranded.

According to reports, many passengers got off the train out of fear for their safety.

According to information, the train left Warri early on Sunday and derailed at about midday inside a forest between Ajaokuta and Itakpe.

The managing director of Nigerian Railway Corporation, Fidet Okhiria, verified the occurrence after the Delta and Kogi State police commands were unable to do so right away.

The people who were stranded had already been removed, according to Okhiria, when he was speaking.

The NRC boss said, “The train derailed and we were able to move the passengers out of the place. We will announce when to commence operation again. Yes, we have evacuated the passengers.”

Service on the route has been halted by the NRC in the interim.

The Warri Itakpe Train WITS 01 derailed at Km 30 on the Ajaokuta-Itakpe stretch of the track at around 12:30 on Sunday, according to a message sent out by the coordinator of the Warri Itakpe Train Service, Sanni Abdulganiyu. He also noted that no casualties were reported.

The statement added that the derailment’s cause had not yet been determined and noted that all 148 passengers and 30 staff members had been successfully evacuated.

The message reads, ”Thankfully, there was no fatality and no casualty. We were immediately alerted and security personnel comprising the Army, Police, NSCDC, and the community vigilante were immediately drafted to the accident point with the assistance of the local government chairman.

“All the 148 passengers and 30 crew members were evacuated to a safe place and arrangements were made to convey 148 passengers to their various destinations and they have been successfully conveyed.

“The cause of the derailment is not yet determined. Due to this incident, the service along the corridor has been suspended. Further details would be communicated to members of the public.

Last Monday, President Bio of Sierra Leone presided over the oath-swearing of his new Minister of Finance, Sheku Ahmed Fantamadi Bangura, amid calls for a change of government at the polls on 24th of June, as the government struggles to address the economic difficulties facing millions of people across the country.

“You are no stranger to the challenges we face as a country. But I believe that you have a team that will take you through this successfully. The world is going through a challenging time, and we are part of the world. I do appreciate that. But I also appreciate that we have to find solutions for our own peculiar economic challenges,” President Bio tells minister Bangura.

With the government having failed to diversify the economy and lever the foreign investments President Bio promised five years ago, not only is unemployment continuing to rise but there are concerns also that the government’s reliance on borrowing to pay for recurring spending has taken the country’s public debt to an all-time high – from $1.4 Billion in 2018 to over $3 Billion in 2023.

Sierra Leone’s government debt is predicted to reach $4.26 Billion by 2026.

But President Bio remains sanguine. “We have registered quite a lot on so many points, but we will continue to be encumbered by the economic crunch, be it fiscal or monetary, which we have to accept,” he told his new finance minister.

“Under the circumstances, we have done extremely well. But we have to do more on the economic front. However, I take solace in the fact that you have what it takes in terms of technical know-how and the team”.

“I also ask your team to give you their fullest support, and you can be rest assured that you have my full support,” the President said.

He said that Sierra Leone would not succeed without a strong economy.  “But we can fix it and move on. That is the task that has fallen squarely on your shoulders. I just want you to know that you are not alone in this fight and that we will all support you. I am sure that, with the support that you have, if you can earnestly pursue it, you can traverse this successfully. That is the goal.”

In response, Mr. Fantamadi Bangura, thanked President Bio for his leadership, saying: “The trust and confidence you have reposed in me has prepared me for this enviable position and grateful for the honour it brings to my family”.

He described his appointment as a decision taken at a crucial time in the country’s turbulent journey and five months before elections, President Bio will seek a second term mandate.

“Your excellency, barely four and a half years into the administration, you delivered very solid accomplishments as promised to the people of this country in the New Direction Manifesto. Under very tenuous circumstances, both globally and also within Sierra Leone, these challenges still continue, and they are actually affecting our country and our society in different ways.

“However, we are very much aware of your vision for Sierra Leone, one that is focused on ensuring that we deliver economic sovereignty for this country. You have always got us to appreciate, and we must always utilize all our resources, both human and God-given, to ensure that we explore their potential to deliver on the aspirations of the state,” he said.

“I want to assure you that we will work with the team that we have at the economic management level, but also across government, the cabinet, and different organs of government, to ensure that we are able to earnestly engage all our partners and bring credibility to all the programmes that we have defined in the state, be it in the medium-term strategy but also on the budgetary programmes and all the other advisories,” he told the President.

Assuring President Bio, the finance minister said: “I will render this service with probity. I also want to count on your full support, His Excellency, to deliver on your expectations. Once more, I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve at the highest level in this country, under your leadership”.

With the cost of living in Sierra Leone running at over 40%, the value of the Leone at less than 65% of its 2018 value against the Dollar, and the government’s taxation receipts showing no sign of improving, both the Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone and the new finance minister are now on borrowed time to work economic miracles if President Bio is to be re-elected on June 24th, 2023.

Power authorities in Johannesburg this week cut off the power supply to the Nigerian Consulate in South Africa, reports thegazellenews.com.

The city power visited multiple premises around Joburg’s region E, disconnecting electricity to recoup more than R360 million it is owed by individuals and organizations in the region.

The city power authority said the Nigerian Consulate owed more than R400 000 ($23 300).

The Nigerian Consulate in South Africa however issued a statement expressing displeasure, adding that the South African Government had to investigate the conduct of the Johannesburg power officials.

The statement read in part that, “the invasion squad which comprised officials of the Johannesburg Metro Police (JMPD), and city power, as well as members of the press, arrived at the Consulate without prior notice or appointment and disrupted normal consular services”.

The spokesperson of the South African Foreign Affairs Ministry has however said the matter is being handled through diplomatic channels. 

In his statement to AFP, Clayso Monyela, who is the spokesperson of the South African Foreign Affairs Ministry said, “the Nigerian consulate has dispatched a note to us,the matter is being handled through diplomatic channels. We’ll engage all parties involved to in order to find an amicable solution”.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry blasted the city’s actions as “in complete violation of international treaties and conversations, especially the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, which guarantees the inviolability of consular premises.

The Government of Sierra Leone last Tuesday signed the Pepel Port and Pepel – Tonkolili Railway Development, Expansion and Management lease agreement with a company called ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms Ltd.

According to the Minister of Mines and Mineral Resources, Timothy Kabba, this agreement is part of the bigger reforms in the mining sector, where the government intends to open the space for more players to participate.

He furthered that ARISE IIP is a credible company with a reputation for developing and managing infrastructure in Africa. “This agreement is taking a government asset from monopoly to be more accessible” he added.

Minister Kabba said that the revival of the mining operation requires significant investment in infrastructure for the country to fully benefit from the growth of its mining output.

This lease agreement will give a 10% free Carry to the Government of Sierra Leone and provide access to rail and port facilities to other bulk mineral producers in the northern corridor.

The project will expand economic activities by providing jobs for Sierra Leoneans and enable passengers’ locomotion from Tonkolili through Bombali to the Port Loko district.

Through this agreement, the company will also introduce passenger rail service that provides communities with improved mobility and trade access, increase mineral export with an additional 20 million MT, 10% dividend to Government, surface rent to landowners, annual royalties, PAYE, and other taxes.

Minister of Finance Sheku Ahmed Fantamadi Bangura said that ARISE IIP is a sector specialist firm with a proven record across Africa in managing infrastructure.

Stating that they are signing this agreement after several consultations, due diligence, and approval from the cabinet with concurrence from the Ministry of Finance.

He furthered that this agreement is in the best interest of the government and people of Sierra Leone and that after the signing, the agreement will be taken to parliament for ratification.

The business plan, financial model, and pre-feasibility studies are estimating a total investment of 476 million dollars covering the refurbishment of the Pepel Tonkolili Railway work, Pepel Port, Railway connectivity to Marampa mines, the introduction of passenger rail services and rail connection to Guinea.

Signing for ARISE IIP, Managing Director, Jesper Harring Boll stated that ARISE is a conceiver, developer, and operator of high-added-value infrastructure committed to making Africa thrive with an investment of several billion dollars and a good track record across many countries in Africa like Benin, Togo, Gabon, Cote d’Ivoire, Tchad, RoC, DRC or Rwanda.

He said that ARISE IIP identifies gaps in African countries that unlock value and create new industries to create local transformation and maximize production, efficiency, and cost to generate growth and local value addition.