Blackout Rocks Parts Of Lagos International Airport

some parts of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos has been thrown into darkness for over three hours without any explanation from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

SaharaReporters at the international wing of the airport observed that the carousel area at the E-arrival  wing has been in darkness for major part of today without any solution to the problem by the engineers of FAAN.

Also, the arrival area outside the terminal to the former car park, Hometel, which is now used as a staff car park for FAAN officials, limousines and cab operators is also in total darkness.

Passengers arriving from international destinations are made to trek to the car park in darkness, which is over 300 metres from the terminal, thereby exposing them to danger.

FAAN had deployed a bus to the arrival terminal to convey passengers to and from the car park, but only one out of the four buses is operational at the moment, a situation, which makes movement from the terminal to the car park for air travellers tedious.


Departure Hall of Murtala Mohammed International Airport
One of the personnel at the terminal told our correspondent that power supply to that area of the airport had been inconsistent since morning, but could not give reasons for the outage.

The source said: "The power outage at the carousel area has been like that since afternoon. No one seems to know the reason for it as FAAN's officials who are supposed to address the situation has been silent on it."

The Lagos Airport despite its certification by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in September 2017 has been porous over the years.

Several security breaches had been recorded at an increasing rate around the airport in the past with passengers robbed at gun points by armed robbers. Recently SaharaReporters had revealed burglary of arriving private jets while taxiing on the runway by bandints. Revelations that have fprced FAAF to begin cutting overgrown weeds around runways at the airports.

Just about four years ago,  armed robbers attacked the Bureau De Change operators at the airport, killing no fewer than three policemen in the process.

Most of the areas outside the terminal are not covered with the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras.

Nigerian Troops Confirm Death Of Notorious Kidnapper, Alleged Mastermind Of Rivers Attack Don Wani

The authorities of 6 Division Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt has confirmed the death of the notorious cult leader and kidnap kingpin, Don Waney.

Waney was shot and killed alongside his second-in-command, Ikechukwu Adiele, and another member of his gang, Lucky Ode while trying to escape arrest.

Troops of 6 Division Nigerian Army in a statement made available to Channels Television said Waney’s enclave in Omoku, ONELGA Rivers State was earlier raided on November 20 where weapons, dynamites, bags of suspected cannabis, full military camouflage uniforms, military boots, military communication radios, 10 human skulls and human bones were discovered.

The troops also in continuation of the operation on Tuesday, November 21, 2017, the troops also exhumed decomposing bodies of some of his victims.

Don Waney according to a statement by Deputy Director Army Public Relations Colonel Aminu Iliyasu after these criminal acts also went ahead to carry out an attack on New Year day in Omoku.

Waney during the attack led his notorious criminal gang to murder 23 residents of Omoku when they were returning from Crossover Service at about 1:30 a.m. on Monday 1st January 2018.


Armed Cult Gang led by Don Wani from Omuku Rivers State Talking Big After Gov Wike Granted Amnesty
Armed Cult Gang led by Don Wani from Omuku Rivers State Talking Big After Gov Wike Granted Amnesty
He was however arrested after intense surveillance activities by the Department of State Services (DSS) Rivers State Command.

Waney after the attack relocated to a neighbourhood within Enugu Town in Enugu State where he rented an apartment and started living among unsuspecting neighbours within the community.

However, he was fished out of his new location by the DSS Rivers State Command, a combined team of troops of 82 Division Nigerian Army Enugu and personnel of DSS Rivers State Command who raided the hideout to arrest him and his other accomplices.

On sensing that the combined team were closing in on his residence, Waney, his Second- in- Command (Ikechukwu Adiele) and another gang member (Lucky Ode) attempted to escape but were shot down by the troops in the process.

One of them died on the spot while the other two who sustained gunshot wounds eventually died while being evacuated for medical attention.

The remains of Don Waney and his cohorts were brought back to Port Harcourt Rivers State by the combined team and handed over to the Rivers State Police Command for further action.

Rivers Killings: Wike's Govt. Culpable

Deputy Chairman, Senate Committee on Procurement and representative of Rivers Senatorial District, Mr. Ohanna Andrew Uchendu, has declared that the administration of Mr. Neysom Wike, governor of Rivers State, is culpable in the spate of killings that has rocked the state.

Mr. Uchendu spoke against the background of the 1 January killing of 17 persons in Omoku, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area, and seven persons in Egbeda,  Emohua Local Government Area, by yet unidentified gunmen on Friday.                                                                             

A statement issued by Mr. Solomon Okocha, his media aide, quoted the senator as saying that it is time for traditional and religious leaders in the state to condemn the raging spate of killings and plead with perpetrators to have a change of heart.

"What has happened in both Omoku and Egbeda is a clear confirmation of what some of us have been saying that the over-hyped state amnesty programme was merely a facade."

"The Wike-led government cannot at one hand wail and condemn the killings of Rivers people by cultists, and in another breath, pretend not to know that it is as a result of the haphazard, not-well-thought-out amnesty programme. My Ikwerre people have a common saying that the hen at all times must follow ant-infested firewood."

"The Wike-led government cannot absolve itself from blame in the incessant killings of harmless and defenceless citizens of Rivers State, until it stoutly rises up to its sole responsibility of protecting lives and properties, and that it can do in this situation, by swiftly nipping cultism in the bud, no matter whose ox is gored. May God help us," he said.

Mr. Uchendu added that the political leadership in the state has woefully failed in coming up with an all-embracing security architecture that would have reduced the bloodletting in the state. As such, he called on religious and traditional leaders to plead with the killers to have a change of heart.

"I am therefore calling on religious and traditional leaders to cry along with Governor Nyesom Wike, who has cried for too long, and possibly, these agents of darkness might heed their wailings and stop the escalating bloodshed in the land," he said.

He advised the Wike administration to halt the raging menace of cultism in the state. He advised individuals or groups in the state with grievances to direct such to the appropriate quarters, instead of resorting to violent self-help.

IYC Demands End To Military Invasion Of Bayelsa Community, Alleges Burning Of 50 Homes

Apex Ijaw youth organisation, Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) worldwide,  has called for an an end to the ongoing military bombardment of Toru-Ndoro Community in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. The call was made in a statement issued on Sunday by Mr. Eric Omare, IYC President.                         The organisation disclosed that from Saturday to the early hours of Sunday, it received  distress calls from residents and indigenes of Toru-Ndoro, notifying it that military officers on a manhunt for alleged killers of a security operative had invaded the community and burnt more than fifty houses.       
                 

While the IYC condemned the beheading of the security operative by criminals operating in the Ndoro area and expressed support for efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice, it, however, condemned the invasion of the community and burning down of homes in a manner reminiscent of what happened such as Odi in Bayelsa State, Ajapa in Ondo State and Ajakarama in Delta State.                                       

"We demand that the few persons, who are involved in criminality, should be separated from the rest of the community and made to face the full weight of the law. In most cases, the people and communities where these criminal elements operate from are usually the first victims of their criminal activities,"

The organisation stated the whereabouts of Mr. Bonny Gawei, an ex-militant leader from Ogulagha Kingdom, Delta State, who accompanied the beheaded security operative to Ndoro on a peace mission, remains  unknown despite the fact that he is Ijaw.


Ijaw People in Egbesu Dance
It stated that the Ijaw in and other people of the Niger Delta are opposed to criminality.                                         

"We have severally expressed our determination to work with security agencies to fish out these criminals because it is not part of our way of life. However, the entire community must not be made to suffer for the crimes of few persons. If these were to be the case, then all the communities in the Boko Haram infected North-East of Nigeria would have been burnt down by now," said the IYC.                                         

It alleged that the people of the Niger Delta are always harshly treated by security agencies.

"Consequently, we call on President Buhari, Minister of Defence, the Chief of Army Staff and the Commander of the Operation Delta Safe to, as a matter of urgency, stop the ongoing invasion and burning of Toru-Ndoro while efforts are made to bring the criminals who beheaded the security operative to justice," the group demanded.

FG may allow marketers to sell petrol above N145

The Federal Government on Tuesday implied that autonomous advertisers may be permitted to offer petroleum over the current directed pump value N145 per liter.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, gave the indication in an introduction at an investigative hearing composed by the Senate on the waiting shortage of the item in the nation.

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He said the N26 differential between the present pump cost and the arrival cost of the ware was caused by the ascent in the conversion standard.

The priest reviewed that naira was 285 to a dollar when the pump cost was raised to N145 per liter, including that the rate would need to drop to N240 to a dollar for advertisers to have the capacity to offer at the official cost.

Kachikwu expressed that the legislature had come up a 18-month crisis period inside which issues influencing supply and estimating of the item ought to be tackled.

The clergyman said the administration was thinking about three models for the direction of the draw cost of petroleum, one of which is a "plural estimating framework" that would enable free advertisers to either stay with the appropriation chain of the legislature and the official cost, or offer the item in view of the varieties in the importation and landing costs.

The pastor clarified that while the administration could hold the present authority draw cost of N145, advertisers who disapproved of its inventory network could be permitted to import and appropriate the item autonomously.

Kachikwu stated, "We are taking a gander at a 18-month crisis period. Amid this crisis period, we have to address the issue of evaluating. There is value divergence between the arrival cost and the cost of offering. On the off chance that we should offer at N145 (per liter), we have to set up systems so the private segment can backpedal to importation. We now have a board that is taking a gander at this and it will be subjected to survey.

"The arrival cost of the item today is about N170 or N171. The value that we should offer is N145. Thus, there is a difference. This means those people who are getting theirs won't have the capacity to meet their commitments like the NNPC for business supply. We have to advance back."

The Chairman of the Senate advisory group, Senator Kabiru Marafa, who interposed Kachikwu now, said the priest had mixed the hornets' net by the announcement.

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He asked, "Would you say you are stating that the N171 is what a normal Nigerian will pay at the filling station or what the advertiser will lift from the stop or the cost of importation?"

Reacting, Kachikwu stated, "Our point is that there is a hole and we have to perceive how we can fill that hole. There are three instruments that we are taking a gander at in managing that hole. Whatever we do, giving the imperatives of the NNPC in taking care of 100 for every penny of the supply, which may turn into a superseding trouble on the partnership, we have to free the advertisers to do their business. To do their business is to address the valuing issue.

"To address the estimating issue, we are taking a gander at three models. When we got to N145, the conversion scale was N285 (to a dollar); today, it is at N305. Indeed, even at the base, there is a hole there. In the event that you stroll to the CBN to check the tweak of the conversion standard to offer at N145, the cost of obtaining it today is about N240; it isn't N285 or N305."

Posting the choices accessible to the administration to keep up the present pump value, the pastor expressed that one of the instruments being considered was to work with the Central Bank of Nigeria to make a forex strategy for advertisers to have the capacity to offer at N145.

Another choice, he stated, was to unwind a portion of the assessments forced on the advertisers in the importation and conveyance chain, consequently decreasing their running expenses.

Kachikwu included, "We are additionally taking a gander at the capability of – going hypothetically to regard the N145 pump cost – having a plural valuing framework. The NNPC and every one of its stations, around 400 the nation over, will offer at N145. In the meantime, advertisers can import the item at their own particular cost and offer. It will now be for the person to remain with NNPC or not. It doesn't influence the Federal Government on what the NNPC is offering."

The pastor brought up that unless the valuing issue was settled, the issues would stay steady.

An individual from the board, Senator Tayo Alasoadura, who is likewise Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), asked Kachikwu how the NNPC had been supporting the pump cost.

"We were informed that the arrival cost is presently high, now at N171. The legislature had gone out with exhibit that appropriation (on petroleum) had been abrogated yet inside a year, we are currently discussing an arrival cost that is high. Did the administration not get its work done appropriately before touching base at N145 per liter?" he said.

Another part, Senator Bassey Akpan, who is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Gas), likewise inquired as to why the priest was thinking about valuing balance and on the off chance that he had the endorsement of President Muhammadu Buhari to regulate the oil pump cost.

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Verifying Alasoadura, expressed, "Now that the NNPC is bringing in at lost about N800m to N900m day by day, we have to see how these misfortunes are being dealt with. You have said you are getting rid of appropriation and the NNPC has said tit imports 25 million on the normal every day at N26 per liter misfortune. We have to accommodate that."

A wind was, be that as it may, recorded in the test when Kachikwu and Baru were going to answer questions postured to them by individuals from the board.

Marafa, who had pledged that the Federal Government must clarify affirmed installment of endowment without the National Assembly's endorsement, asked that they overlook inquiries on appropriation installment.

He stated, "Let me state a certain something: there are questions gotten some information about endowment issues. I don't need us to crash. The embodiment of this sitting isn't on whether there is endowment or no sponsorship.

"Answer the inquiries on appropriation to the extent it influences supply, which caused the fuel shortage. I don't need us to go into issues of appropriation for the present at this gathering. The Committee on Downstream will single out that issue instantly and investigate it comprehensively. Along these lines, questions pestering on who is paying endowment ought to be dropped for this reason. I don't need us to wreck.

"What we need are issues of provisions, where the holes are and why we have this emergency. These are the sign of this issue."

Prior in his introduction, Kachikwu portrayed Nigeria's failure to refine raw petroleum locally as "despicable" subsequent to working a downstream part for more than 40 years, including that the nation could in any case not make oil based commodities adequate for the general population regardless of having raw petroleum.

"As long as possible, at long last, we should address the issues with our refineries. Like I said in the first place, the answer for the issue must be the refineries. What's more, whatever it takes, we have to assemble the refineries. When we do that, we are prepared to go," he expressed.

The Director, Department of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Mordecai Ladan, expressed that the NNPC did not have the ability to be the sole merchant and wholesaler of oil.

"The circumstance is making strides. The NNPC is giving a valiant effort. For the present, the NNPC is the sole merchant and nearly the sole wholesaler of this item. The NNPC can't do only it. We need the autonomous and real advertisers also to please come in and aid this present circumstance," he said.

A mellow dramatization played out at the occasion when three people presented themselves as national leaders of the Independent Marketers Petroleum Association of Nigeria.

They are Sanusi Fari, Chinedu Okorokwo and Obasi Lawson.

The improvement, which happened amid the starting session, drummed up a buzz at the occasion.

Individuals from the Senate advisory group settled that lone the Executive Secretary of IPMAN, Aminu Abdulkadir, would be perceived to represent the affiliation.

In his introduction, the Executive Secretary of the Major Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Obafemi Olawore, countered the case by the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, that the shortage was not caused supply lack.

He charged that the company had closed out private administrators in the import and production network.

Olawore stated, "That is additionally in view of the way that the legislature owes us N800bn. We have completed a few compromises guided by the Chief of Staff to the President (Abba Kyari).

"We are stating that, going ahead, real players ought to be given real parts to play in the importation procedure. We can close all retail outlets yet that wouldn't stop every one of the issues."
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