Crime

Police Wield Big Stick, Disrobe Sergeant over N98,000

By Web News 863

The Lagos State Police Command on Wednesday announced the dismissal of Sgt. Ekpo Shimuyere, who was attached to the Sogunle Division, for extorting a young man of N98,000.

The News Agency of Nigeria reported that the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, told journalists that the command’s Provost Department had already disrobed the dismissed sergeant.

Hundeyin said the policeman’s action was contrary to the ethics of the profession.

He said, “The police command got the complaint from the victim and the officer denied the crime when he was contacted. The command placed him under detention so that he will not tamper with the evidence.

“We wrote to his bank and obtained his statement of account. We were able to trace the money to where the POS operator transferred it before transferring the money to the officer’s account.

“We followed due process to get his account. The victim was invited in the course of the investigation and he testified.

“The POS operator was also invited, and he said the officer requested him to transfer the money from the victim’s account to another one.”

The PPRO said the Sergeant was consequently subjected to an orderly room trial in line with extant laws.

“The Commissioner of Police, Lagos Command, Mr Idowu Owohunwa, has reviewed the orderly room procedure of the officer with Force No. 461654, attached to the Sogunle Police Division and has approved the punishment of dismissal from the force,” he said.

Punch/Simeon Ugbodovon

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Crime

LAWMA Officials Retrieve Day-Old-Baby from Dumpster

By Web News 530

The Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) officials have retrieved a day-old baby from a dumpster while evacuating waste in a street in Ikoyi, Lagos.

The Police Public Relations Officers (PPRO) in Lagos State, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed this on his verified Twitter handle monitored by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday.

Hundeyin said that at about 10 a.m. on Thursday, LAWMA officials went to the Ikoyi police division to file a report on the discovery of the baby.

“The officials reported that they were on their routine duty of moving wastes around the Ikoyi area when they discovered the newly born baby wrapped in a polythene bag.

“A police team led by the Divisional Crime Officer rushed to the scene.

“The baby was rushed to Military Hospital, 81 Division, Dodan Barracks Ikoyi for medical treatment before taking the child to Motherless Baby Home,” he said.

The image maker said that but for the quick detection by the LAWMA officials, the baby would have died.

Hundeyin further said that the baby was doing fine, stressing that the investigation in the case has begun.

”Infanticide is a crime and punishable,” he warned.

Vanguard/Simeon Ugbodovon

Politics

Rep Calls for Strengthening of Electoral Act, Institutions

By Web News 636


Mr Benjamin Kalu, Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Media and Public Affairs, says Nigeria must strengthen its laws to ensure politics is practised without ethnic, religious or tribal considerations.

Kalu (APC-Abia), who made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja, said Nigeria must strengthen its electoral institutions to reduce the influence of those in power.

 “We saw in the recent U.S. election that the ‘power of incumbency’ had no influence over electoral institutions unlike in most African democracies. He stressed that the U.S elections had also shown that “the independence of institutions and unbiased electoral umpire cannot be questioned; the credibility of the institutions cannot be easily influenced even by a sitting president or governor”.

Kalu also said that there must be equal opportunities for all to participate in politics, adding that women should be supported by family and friends. The lawmaker commended the emergence of Kamala Harris as the first female Vice President-elect in the Nov. 3 U.S elections, saying that women should be motivated to participate in politics and not be called names when they do.


According to him, some of these women were born leaders, and what was required was for them to be given the chance to make a contribution, saying that women should emulate Harris and work hard, rather than wait for the platform to be given to them, to secure political power.

 “I am proud of Americans, for the first time, they have given a woman a chance to become the second citizen of the U.S. It is something we need to emulate, we need to know that in politics and leadership of a nation, ethnicity, race or religion should not play a role. “I am currently working with lawmakers around the world on a ban on the use of religion, during elections and in politics. “We need a ban on discrimination; once somebody has the competence, he should be seen as being able to lead and not be rejected on grounds of ethnicity or religion”, the lawmaker said.

Kalu said that the 9th Assembly had demonstrated strong political will to enhance the electoral process in the country by amending the Electoral Act, stressing that the House had debated and passed the amendment bill for second reading, urging all Nigerians to participate in the public hearing, when it is scheduled.

He urged African leaders, particularly in Nigeria, not to insist on contesting election outcomes in court but to ensure that they delivered dividends of democracy to the people. (NAN)

Vanguard

Transportation

Ebonyi Bus Plunge: FRSC Confirms 14 Corpses

By Web News 797

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Ebonyi has confirmed the retrieval of 14 corpses from the Akeze-Ukwu river after a Mercedes Benz 608 model bus plunged into it on Friday evening.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the bus was conveying members of a particular church who attended their pastor’s burial and were returning to Enugu when the incident occurred.

The bus driver was said to have lost control of the vehicle while trying to overtake an articulated vehicle on the bridge but five victims were rescued unconscious on Friday.

Mrs Stella Uchegbu, FRSC Sector Commander in Ebonyi, said the bus had been retrieved with 14 persons aboard.

“Seven males and seven females, all adults were inside the vehicle all and they were all dead.

“Their corpses have been deposited at the Mater Misericordae Hospital, Afikpo, but both professional divers from Port Harcourt and the local ones are still searching for more victims,” she said.

Uchegbu said that with five persons rescued on Friday and 14 corpses retrieved on Saturday, it was clear that there more victims still missing.

“This sums to 19 recovered persons as against the expected 32 passengers on board the bus.

“The FRSC personnel are still on ground, maintaining free flow of traffic with the road cordoned to motorists since Friday,” she said.

Chief Onyebuchi Ogbadu, Chairman of Ivo Local Government Area (LGA) of the state, disclosed that the state government hired divers from Rivers and Cross River to assist in the rescue efforts.

“The divers located the bus inside the river, pushed it to enable the crane pull it from the river,” he said.

Sources revealed that the driver was one of the persons rescued on Friday and he disclosed when he regained consciousness that 32 persons were inside the bus.

“The driver said he managed to dive from the bus as it plunged into the river,” the source claimed. 

FRCN Abuja

News Analysis

The Need to Reduce the Cost of Governance

By Web News 921

Recently, Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, said government is planning to review the wages of all political office holders in the country.

Senator Ngige explained that there was a need to review and streamline the wages and allowances given to political office holders, and the high wages earned by workers in certain government organizations.

For some time now, the issue of reducing the cost of governance had continued to generate reactions among Nigerians and government.

It is however sad to note that on the part of the government, it has been more talk, less action.

In order to overcome the challenges which this issue has generated, successive administrations since the return of the country to democratic rule, have always emphasized on the need to generate more money for national development. 

Rather than reducing the cost, government expenditure keeps increasing, which does not add any benefit to the country’s development.

A major known source of huge expenditure is the retinue of aides appointed by the president, governors and lawmakers at all levels and the high cost of maintaining the National and State Assembly members, States’ Assemblies, as well as local government authorities.

In a survey conducted by the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, governors in each state of the federation have an average of one hundred political appointees, including commissioners.

Recently, Ebonyi State governor, David Umahi appointed one hundred and eighty additional aides to serve as executive assistants, technical assistants and senior technical assistants.

Each budget year, so much money is allocated for recurrent expenditure, while little percentage is set aside for capital projects in critical areas of infrastructure like health, education and other key sectors that will enhance the quality of life of the people. 

What is worrisome is that these huge expenditure have no significant effect on the economy and the overall development of the country.

The unaccounted-for security votes by the president and governors and the humongous allowances of political office holders, point to the fact that the presidential system which Nigeria operates is the most expensive and unsustainable system of government for any developing nation.

It is in the light of this that there should be an amendment of the 1999 constitution, to reduce the size of government through a reduction in the members of the federal and state cabinets, including the number of advisers and assistants, as well as membership of the National and State Assemblies.

Government owes it a duty to merge ministries, departments and agencies to pave way for the development of the country.

It is commendable, the effort of the government at reviewing the salaries of public office holders, as this will help to cut down expenditures.

As part of the reduction, the country should adopt a system which will make legislators serve on a part-time basis and be paid only sitting allowances.

It is pertinent to emphasize that a lean government will reduce waste, inefficiency, corruption and duplication of government functions, as well as make capital spending more effective.

There is also the need for the government to intensify the war against corruption by strengthening the constitutional powers of anti-corruption agencies in the area of arrest, investigation and prosecution of offenders.

Fawzeeyah Kasheem