Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Saturday 19th March 2022
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 19/03/22
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Sleep-Walking Into Universal Disaster By Owei Lakemfa.
The siamese twins, India and Pakistan, have virtually been at each other’s throats since the 1947 surgical operation by quack British doctors that separated them.Their last dogfight in the skies was in 2019. However, on March 9, 2022, Pakistan with 165 nuclear warheads and India with 156, we’re almost at war. What nearly resulted in conflict was not their fierce differences over Kashmir or any difference for that matter.What happened was that India fired a BrahMos Medium range missile into Pakistan’s Punjab Province damaging property. But luckily, no aircraft were flying around and there were no casualties.The baffled Pakistanis who traced the missile launch were not sure what to make of it as it was an unarmed supersonic missile. They waited for the direct hotline between the two military chiefs to ring and get an explanation.But it remained silent. As the Pakistanis prepared for a possible conflict, they made a complaint to India. That was when two days later, the explanation came with profuse apologies; the Indian Air Force was checking its systems when due to a technical malfunction, the missile went off.Pakistan’s National Security Adviser, Moeed Yusuf said: “This missile travelled close to the path of international and domestic commercial airlines and threatened the safety of civilians…It is also highly irresponsible of Indian authorities not to have informed Pakistan immediately that an inadvertent launch of a cruise missile had taken place.”With the world saturated by missiles and nuclear arms, it is not impossible that any can be fired due to technical or human errors; in other words, humans can simply sleepwalk into a universal disaster. I often hear an exclamation like: ‘The Devil is a liar’; but in reality, the Devil is a realist; the best way to avoid a nuclear disaster is to rid the world of nuclear weapons. Africans say, you do not go about sniffing what you forbid; if we do not want a biological or nuclear war, why do we go about producing them?The United Nations in Article I of its Convention on the Prohibition of Bacteriological and Toxin Weapons, states that: “Each State Party to this Convention undertakes never in any circumstances to develop, produce, stockpile or otherwise acquire or retain microbial or other biological agents, or toxins whatever their origin or method of production, of types and in quantities…” But the issue of biological weapons production is the basis of the current claims and counterclaims in the ongoing Ukrainian war in which Russia on March 6, 2022, announced it had uncovered and captured a number of laboratories where Ukraine, with the aid of the United States, was engaged in the development of biological weapons.Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced they had discovered that: “Components of biological weapons were being developed in Ukrainian laboratories in direct proximity to Russian territory…During the special military operation in Ukraine, the Kyiv regime was found to have been concealing traces of a military biological programme implemented with funding from the United States Department of Defence”. She also claimed that Russia found messages directing Ukrainian bio-laboratory staff to eradicate “hazardous pathogens of plague, anthrax, rabbit-fever, cholera and other lethal diseases(from) stored reserves of highly hazardous pathogens”.The US which before the United Nations vehemently denied the accusations, however, did not accuse the Russians of planting the laboratories nor that American instructions to the Ukrainians to eradicate the hazardous pathogens rather than let them fall into Russian hands are fake.The American position was made more problematic when its embassy in Ukraine issued a statement titled: ‘Biological Threat Reduction Program’. In reference to the Russian discoveries, the US Embassy said America “collaborates with partner countries to counter the threat of outbreaks (deliberate, accidental, or natural) of the world’s most dangerous infectious diseases”. The American statement went on to state that: “The Biological Threat Reduction Program’s priorities in Ukraine are to consolidate and secure pathogens and toxins of security concern…”When the matter came up in the American Senate, the US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland admitted: “Ukraine has biological-research facilities, which, in fact, we are now quite concerned Russian forces may be seeking to gain control of. So we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces, should they approach.”My concerns are not whether or not the Ukrainian laboratory experiments are for defensive purposes -whatever that means -but that, as it happened in the Indian missile case, there can be accidental discharge or leakage, and before you know it, the world might be battling new pandemics.
This is also my concern on whether the war in Ukraine might involve the eventual use of nuclear weapons by either Russia or the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO. It may not be deliberate, but human errors like that that happened in the case of Indians can occur. Famous scientist Albert Einstein who initially thought the atomic bomb was a good idea, changed his mind, famously saying: “Mankind invented the atomic bomb, but no mouse would ever construct a mousetrap.” His conclusion was that: “To have security against atomic bombs and against the other biological weapons, we have to prevent war, for if we cannot prevent war every nation will use every means that is at their disposal; and in spite of all promises they make, they will do it.”
After the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, humanity swore it must never be repeated. That was in 1945. But nuclear weapons increased to 3,000 in 1955 and to over 37,000 by 1965 (US, 31,000 and the Soviet Union 6,000). At this point, there were demands that nuclear weapons should first be drastically reduced, then eliminated.This was one of the hopes in the negotiations of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, SALT I signed in 1972. But rather than reduce, there was further proliferation to the extent that they rose to 47,000 by 1975 (US, 27,000 and Soviet Union 20,000) then to 70,300 active weapons in 1986.The figures have reduced significantly, but remain very high, with Russia in 2022 having 6,255 nuclear warheads; the US: 5,550; China with 350; France: 290 and United Kingdom: 225 nuclear warheads. Other known nuclear countries are Israel and North Korea. There are others in the queue.Despite threats, I am not sure nuclear-proliferating countries can stop others from joining the race; so there is a balance of terror. Yet, humanity and nuclear weapons cannot co-exist; one will have to give way to the other. The way out is decommissioning all nuclear weapons; but will the powerful agree to give up their lethal weapons? I doubt it.
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Owei Lakemfa
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Nigerian Health Agency, NAFDAC Destroys Fake Drugs Worth N50million In Sokoto
The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Friday destroyed expired and fake drugs worth N50million in Sokoto State.The items were burnt at Kwannawa dump site near old Post Office in Dange-Shuni Local Government Area of the state.
Adamu Garba, NAFDAC State Coordinator, said the exercise was part of routine efforts by the agency to sanitise the country of counterfeits, expired and other unregulated products from circulation.“The products being destroyed today are made up of fake/counterfeit drugs, substandard and expired food products, cosmetics and regulated products seized by NAFDAC while some surrendered voluntarily by shop owners,” Garba said.“This exercise is in public private partnership with drugs sellers, union members as about 80 per cent of destroyed products were voluntarily surrendered by them.”He commended security agencies for their support and vowed the agency’s continued enforcement of sanctions.The exercise was attended by NAFDAC Governing Board member, Tukur Sarkin Fada Tambuwal and Abdullahi Dikko, the Director of Reaserch and Statistics, Sokoto State Ministry of Environment.Others are Nasiru Abdu from Sokoto State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and the representative of medicine vendors, Ogbu Batholomew.
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Unknown Gunmen Abduct Eight Leaders Of Ruling Party, APC
Gunmen have kidnapped eight members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), between Araromi Opin and Obbo Ile in Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State.According to reports, the victims were abducted by gunmen on Wednesday while returning from the inauguration of the Kwara chapter of the APC State Executive Committee from Ilorin.
A relative to one of the victims, one Adekunle Oluwole, made the news of their abduction public while addressing reporters in Ilorin on Thursday, an online newspaper, Today reported.According to Oluwole, five of the eight people involved had escaped from the kidnappers.He listed those involved, as the Isapa Ward Chairman in Ekiti local government area of the state, Daniel Adewuyi; the Eruku ward Chairman; Women Leader Eruku; Women Leader Obbo Ile; Chairman Obbo Ile Ward; Women Leader Koro ward; and Women Leader Isapa ward, among others.He added that the member representing Ekiti Constituency at the state House of Assembly, Ganiyu Abolarin and the Ekiti local government APC chairman, Wale Awelewa, were at the hospital, where some of the victims were rushed after they escaped on Wednesday.Meanwhile, some of the victims have been discharged from the hospital.Oluwole also said four Hilux vehicles fully loaded with members of the Nigerian Army had been deployed to the area to arrest the kidnappers.The police spokesman in Kwara, Ajayi Okasanmi, said he had yet to be briefed about the incident.
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National Assembly Must Address 460 Duplicated Projects Worth N378billion In Nigeria’s 2022 Budget – Civic Group, BudgIT
Civic organisation, BudgIT, has called on the National Assembly to eliminate infractions and corruption loopholes in the 2022 Approved Budget.BudgIT made the call on Thursday, after it published its 2022 Federal Government Budget Analysis Consultative Memo titled ‘Leveraging Budget Reforms for Economic Development’.
In its preliminary analysis of the 21,108 capital projects in the budget, the body had noted that there were 460 duplicated projects amounting to N378.9billion.However, in a further analysis, the research team identified other critical causes for concern, infractions and corruption loopholes.It was discovered that some of the budgets linked to MDAs that do not have the mandate to execute them are directly connected to the leadership of the Legislative arm of government.An example is the cumulative allocation of N1.45billion to the Nigerian Stored Products Research Institution and Nigerian Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation in Ilorin, Kwara State, to construct the “Femi Gbajabiamila Public Junior Secondary School, Itire Ikate”.According to the report, “both agencies in Kwara State have no expertise in supervising the construction or staffing of a school in Lagos State when the country has a Federal Ministry of Education.”It also cited the allocation of N1 billion to the Nigerian Institute of Marine and Oceanography to install street lights in Delta Central Senatorial District, represented by Hon. Ovie Omo-Agege, the deputy Senate President.It also raised concerns over the timeframe within which the 6,576 capital projects were generated and inserted into the FG budget by legislators.“BudgIT has valid concerns on whether the Project Design Documents (PDD) were created as required by the 2022 Budget Public Investment Guidelines.”It added, “A poorly designed and costed public sector project is almost destined to fail ab initio and lead to poor value for money for taxpayers.“Also, the insertions of these 6,576 projects bloated the budgets of different federal ministries, contributing further to a breach of the budget ceiling safeguards announced by the Budget Office of the Federation on August 19, 2021.”While speaking on capital budget padding, Gabriel Okeowo, BudgIT’s Country Director, said, “Several projects do not meet the definition for capital expenditures according to the Fiscal Responsibility Act. For example, N5.6billion allocated to over 150 Meetings, Conferences, and Board Meetings was listed as capital expenditures across different MDAs.“Another case is the N28million allocated to the Federal Ministry of Information & Culture-HQTRS for Quarterly Interaction With Foreign Media/Pr Lobby in its capital budget.”Okeowo added, “Last week, BudgIT also embarked on consultative engagements with critical institutions and stakeholders in the budget process to galvanise stakeholders into action concerning these infractions.”BudgIT also called for an amendment of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) 2007, before the National Assembly, to be given a speedy hearing and corresponding presidential assent empowering the Fiscal Responsibility Commission to enforce fiscal discipline.“Nigeria currently loses trillions of naira in revenues due to MDAs breaching provisions of the FRA 2007,” the report stated.The civic body further called on citizens, CSOs, private sector, and the international community to urgently prevail on the National Assembly and Presidency to immediately redress and eliminate the violations in the budget so as to allow the public funds work for all Nigerians and not for a privileged few politicians.“It is no gainsaying that the National Assembly must demonstrate a stronger commitment to publishing, vetting and appraising the budget proposal from the Executive and their agencies, especially using feedback from the country’s Auditor General to assess allocations to agencies involved in misappropriation, extra-budgetary allocations, and other forms of corruption in the previous years.”
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Ukraine Invasion: Bulgarian Government Expels 10 Russian Diplomats
No fewer than 10 Russian diplomats were expelled by the Bulgarian government on Friday.The diplomats were said to be carrying out activities deemed incompatible with their diplomatic status, a move followed up quickly by the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
This was contained in a statement by the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry on Friday, noting that it had given the 10 diplomats 72 hours to leave.The statement did not give a more detailed reason for the expulsions, but since Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the Russian ambassador in Sofia had repeatedly made contradictory statements about Bulgaria’s position on the conflict.According to a statement on its website, the Bulgarian foreign ministry said Prime Minister, Kiril Petkov, was consulted on the expulsions and the Russian ambassador to Sofia had been informed.This is said to be the second wave of expulsions of Russian diplomats from Bulgaria, with two expelled on March 2 over allegedly involvement in espionage.The Russian embassy in the country has called the expulsion a “hostile demarche” that would hurt relations between the two nations.Soon afterward, Latvia and Estonia said they were both expelling three Russian diplomats, while Lithuania said it had told four Russians that they must leave the country.”Russia’s military attacks on civilians, civilian objects, hospitals, schools, maternity wards, and cultural objects are war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, said.”Russian special services are actively involved in organizing these crimes against the peaceful population of Ukraine, so we do not want the representatives of these structures to walk on our land and pose a threat to Lithuania’s national security.”Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said on Twitter that Riga was expelling three Russian Embassy employees “in connection with activities that are contrary to their diplomatic status and taking into account ongoing Russian aggression in Ukraine.””The decision has been coordinated with Lithuania and Estonia,” he added.Estonia said the three diplomats it had asked to leave “have directly and actively undermined Estonia’s security and spread propaganda justifying Russia’s military action.”
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Nigeria Ranks 114th Among World Happiest Countries, Finland Retains 1st Position In Five Years
Nigeria is the 114th happiest country in the world, the World Happiness Report 2021 has shown.The “giant of Africa” was just 32 ranks away from Afghanistan, the 146th country which was at the bottom of the report while Mauritius in East Africa was ranked 49 in the world happiest nation.
Marking its 10th anniversary, the report used statistical analysis to determine the world’s happiest countries. In its 2021 update, the report concluded that Finland is the happiest country in the world.The report analysed the Gallup polling data from 149 countries for the past three years, monitoring performance in the gross domestic product per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity of the general population, and perceptions of internal and external corruption levels.Meanwhile, Nigeria comes several ranks below Ivory Coast (83), Ghana (93) , Cameroon(89), Senegal (90), Niger (94), Gambia(96), Benin(97), Guinea (100) and Burkina Faso (111) which are all of the sub-continent, West Africa.However, the country is ranked ahead of Mali (115), Liberia (118), Chad (125), Mauritania(131), Togo (133), Sierra Leone (135).For the fifth year in a row, Finland is the world’s happiest country followed closely by its Nordic neighbours Denmark, Norway, Switzerland and Iceland.Out of a total score of 10, Finland scored 7.842, Denmark 7.620, Switzerland 7.571, Iceland 7.554.Other countries in the top 20 include: the Netherlands; Norway; Sweden; Luxembourg; Austria; Australia; Israel; Germany; Canada; Ireland; Costa Rica; United Kingdom; Czech Republic; the United States; Belgium and France.The world’s top 20 happiest countries, 2022 edition;1. Finland2. Denmark3. Iceland4. Switzerland5. Netherlands6. Luxembourg7. Sweden8. Norway9. Israel10. New Zealand11. Austria12. Australia13. Ireland14. Germany15. Canada16. United States17. United Kingdom18. Czechia (Czech Republic)19. Belgium20. France
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2023: Kaduna Women Groups Back Activist, Sowore For Nigerian President
Women groups under the auspices of Kaduna Women Association (KWA) have thrown their weight behind the presidential ambition of the human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore under the African Action Congress (AAC) in the forthcoming 2023 general elections.The group said Sowore was a man of the people, a detribalised national figure who is loved by the people of all regions, religions and tribes for fighting for the rights of the common man.
The group which comprised old and young women gathered on Thursday in Kaduna State in their numbers to show their support for the activist.Speaking on behalf of the group, its patron, Andy Young, promised to work hand in hand with the women to ensure the victory of Sowore as the President of Federal Republic of Nigeria come 2023.He called on Nigerians to jettison sentiments and support Sowore’s Presidential ambition adding that Nigeria would be set on the path of economic greatness and prosperity if the human rights activist was voted into power as President.Sowore, who spoke at the occasion through a representative, Agena Robert Ande, expressed happiness towards the women’s courage, resilience and commitment in endorsing him for presidency.He added that a vote for him was to end insecurity, corruption, bad governance, police brutality, impunity and all forms of oppression in the country.Sowore promised to put an end to incessant herdsmen and farmers’ crises in Southern Kaduna and the country as a whole.The AAC Presidential aspirant urged Nigerians to use their ballots to vote out bad and corrupt politicians who had continued to steal their commonwealth.He said, “Don’t vote for sick people who will come and use tax payers’ money to pay their hospital bills. You have to stand your ground to vote against all these bad elements that brought the country to this level.“Nigerians have their rights and that right must be given to them and the time is now.”
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EXCLUSIVE: Boko Haram Fighters Sack Nigerian Army Base, Kill Newly Recruited Soldier
File photo used to illustrate story.
A newly recruited soldier identified only as Jamilu has been confirmed killed after a deadly ambush by militants belonging to the Islamic State-backed faction of Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), military sources have told SaharaReporters.The soldier who joined the Nigerian Army in 2021 was killed when the terrorists attacked a military base in the Bama Local Government Area of Borno State.
File photo used to illustrate story.
Sources told SaharaReporters that the insurgents on gun trucks attacked the base on Thursday, exchanging firepower with Nigerian troops stationed in Bama community.Apart from Jamilu, many other soldiers were seriously injured while a yet-to-be ascertained number of personnel remained missing as of Friday.“The terrorists were in many vehicles and engaged the soldiers in a battle which lasted for several hours.“The soldiers really put up a strong fight to defend their base and ward off the insurgents but despite their gallant efforts, they were overwhelmed because they could not withstand the superior firepower of the terrorists.“The terrorists succeeded in taking over the base and killed Jamilu,” a military source told SaharaReporters.Since the death of JAS leader, Abubakar Shekau, ISWAP has been consolidating its grip in locations around Lake Chad.Last year, it appointed Wali Sani Shuwaram, a 45-year-old as the new Leader (Wali) of ISWAP in Lake Chad.The sect’s membership has swollen with the defection of hundreds of Boko Haram fighters under Shekau.The terror group has caused over 100,000 deaths and displaced millions of individuals mainly in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states.Meanwhile, the Nigerian Army on its Twitter page on Friday announced success in its fight against insurgency around around Ndufu and Musiri villages in Borno State.“BREAKING: Ongoing offensive onslaught by troops of Operation Desert Sanity records another feat as troops neutralised several ISWAP/Boko Haram terrorists around Ndufu and Musiri villages in Borno State.“Also, troops recovered weapons and rescued 30 kidnapped local residents. Additionally, troops also destroyed various camps of the terrorists,” it said.
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BREAKING Google Maps App Crashes Globally, Leaves Users Frustrated
Popular navigation app, Google Maps, on Friday afternoon went down, leaving users frustrated around the world.According to Down Detector, the issues started at around 3:44pm on Friday.
While reason for the outage remains unclear, more than 11,000 reports have now been logged on Down Detector.Of those who reported issues, 58 per cent said they were struggling with the website, 39 per cent with the app and three per cent were having problems with data.Google is yet to respond to request for comment on the outage.Many frustrated users have taken to Twitter to discuss the outage.Google Maps is available in over 220 countries and territories, and features hundreds of millions of businesses and places. Its last major update was in October 2021 when Google introduced new tools to help users reduce their environmental impact including eco-friendly routing, live navigation for cyclists and bike and scooter share information.
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E2%80%99t-yet-disclose-ex-governor-obiano%E2%80%99s-offence-%E2%80%93-anti-graft-agency-efcc Why We Can’t Yet Disclose Ex-Governor Obiano’s Offence – Anti-graft Agency, EFCC
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says the offence for which the immediate past governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano, was arrested is being kept under wraps because of an ongoing investigation.Obiano was apprehended at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on Thursday evening, hours after he left office and Prof Chuwkuma Soludo was sworn in as the new governor of the state.
The anti-graft agency had placed the former governor on its watch list since November last year.The EFCC had in a letter to the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) dated November 15, 2021, requested the Service to place Obiano on watchlist and alert the agency anytime he is travelling out of the country via any International airports and other points of entry and exit.The agency, however, did not state why the ex-governor was placed on watchlist.Speaking with Daily Trust, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, spokesman of the anti-graft agency, said Obiano’s alleged offence was not disclosed after his arrest because it’s not time for the commission to do so.He said, “We are not giving that (the offence) out at the moment. The matter is still under investigation. It is also not correct that he has been released. He is with the commission.”Uwujaren was evasive when asked when Obiano would be released, saying, “Once he is released, you will get the information.”SaharaReporters had on Thursday reported that Obiano was arrested while he was on his way to Houston, Texas in the United States.The EFCC had last November how placed Obiano on a watchlist.
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