Yes fuel queues are keeping Nigerians in traffic for hours; yes dollar is more than 600 Naira, yes people are getting kidnapped every day and yes a bag of rice is now more than the NYSC salary but Buhari told Bloomberg that Nigeria is ‘far better’ now than before he took power.
His reasons: ‘Corruption is less hidden for Nigerians feel empowered to report it without fear, and money is returned; terrorists no longer hold any territory in Nigeria, and their leaders are deceased; vast infrastructure development sets the country on course for sustainable and equitable growth.’
Read more about Buhari’s interview with Bloomberg here.
In this edition:
Nigeria rejects medical and dental degrees from Ukraine
Polio in the UK
The case of organ trafficking
PVC registration extended
Nigeria is the worst at human rights
Insecurity
Trigger warning: kidnap, bombing, horrifying death.
Despite Buhari’s claims, Nigeria is the worst at human rights.
Nigeria scores very bad in human rights
A recent report from the Human Rights Measurement Initiative revealed that Nigeria is the worst at human rights; “worse than the “average in Sub-Saharan Africa”.
The report measures four basic rights: the right to food; the right to health; the right to housing and the right to work. Nigeria was lower than the regional average for all four.
Surprise, surprise.
Another thing Nigeria is bad at: keeping people safe
On Monday, terrorists bombed the popular Izombe Market in Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State.
An eye-witness told Sun Newspaper that the assailants had earlier paraded the market warning customers and traders of the implications of coming out to trade on Monday.
The source says that they threw a bomb into the market and set two cars on fire.
Reports indicate that some were injured but nobody died.
Premium Times speculates that the attackers were members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and this was their attempt at reinforcing the sit-at-home order.
IPOB imposed a mandatory stay-at-home order every Monday until Kanu is released (which people have been observing—- some in solidarity, others out of fear of being attacked for disobeying). Recently, they changed their order to stay-at-home every day Kanu is scheduled to appear in court.
Trigger warning: kidnap and horrifying death
Attackers beheaded Nelson Achukwu, a former state lawmaker in Anambra State.
Reports indicate that the criminals kidnapped Achukwu a few months ago. They accused him of reporting them to the military.
However, they soon discovered he wasn’t the one providing tips to the military and released him.
But three weeks ago, they abducted him again, from his house in the Mkpor community of Anambra. This time asked for a ransom.
His family paid ₦15 million, but the attackers didn’t release him. Instead, “His decapitated body was found at the back of Ulasi Rivers”, says a police spokesperson in Anambra State.
The police spokesperson added that they were doing their best to find him before they found his body, and now they’ll be doing all they can to find the culprits.
Many kidnapped as gunmen attack villages and churches in Kaduna
Gunmen on motorcycles killed three people after attacking villages and two churches in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State on Sunday, the state government has said.
This was confirmed by state Commission for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, in a statement that said:
“Security agencies have reported to the Kaduna State Government that bandits attacked worshippers and locals at Ungwan Fada, Ungwan Turawa and Ungwan Makama in Rubu general area of Kajuru local government area”.
“According to the report, the bandits stormed the villages on motorcycles, beginning from Ungwan Fada, and moving into Ungwan Turawa, before Ungwan Makama and then Rubu”.
Other than the 3 people who died, 2 were injured and a still unknown number of residents were kidnapped.
Read more here.
Amotekun arrest suspects of Owo attack
Operatives of Amotekun Corps in Ondo State have arrested suspects of the June 5 massacre at St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo which left 40 persons dead and over 80 others injured.
The state commander of Amotekun, Adetunji Adeleye made the declaration while parading 71 suspected criminals before journalists in Akure on Thursday.
The suspects were reportedly arrested within the month for charges of cattle rustling, armed robbery, cultism, kidnapping, human trafficking, and theft of commercial motorcycles.
Mr Adeleye also confirmed the corps already recovered 31 stolen motorcycles.
Updates on past kidnappings:
Zamfara wedding guests released after ransom payments
29 people were abducted while commuting from Zamfara to Sokoto state for a wedding. They have now been released following the payment of an unspecified ransom.
The victims were mostly dealers of mobile phones and phone accessories at Bebeji Communication Market (Bebeji Plaza) in Gusau, the capital of Zamfara State and were abducted in Sokoto 13 days ago.
According to Premium Times, their release was confirmed by the Secretary of the GSM Dealers Association in the state, Ashiru Zurmi. Unfortunately, one of the victims reportedly died in captivity.
20 girls still missing in Sambisa
More than 20 girls still remain missing in Gazuwa camp in Sambisa Forest eight years after being kidnapped by Boko Haram.
NAN Reports that Gazuwa camp is the acclaimed Headquarters of the Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād, Boko Haram faction, formerly known as Gabchari, Mantari and Mallum Masari, located about 9 kilometres to Bama Local Government Area of Borno.
Two rescued girls, Mary Dauda and Hauwa Joseph, disclosed this while interacting with newsmen on Tuesday in Maiduguri, at a news conference at the Command and Control Centre Maimalari Cantonment.
Read more about their story here.
Health Matters
Kwara confirms first monkeypox case
The Kwara State Government officially confirmed the state’s first case of Monkeypox on Thursday.
The case was confirmed by the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Raji Razak, in a personal statement. His statement also confirmed that the victim is a 29-year-old driver who lives in Gbugbu in the Edu Local Government Area of the state.
The driver has since been admitted to a government hospital and his family members are under surveillance.
Read the Commissioner's statement here.
NCDC on cholera
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) say at least 74 people have reportedly died of cholera in 30 states this year alone.
The report from NCDC also confirmed a total of 2,339 suspected cases as of May 29, 2022.
5-year-old children have been the majority of the suspected cases since the beginning of the year.
‘The agency said 5 states — Taraba (651 cases), Cross River (593 cases), Katsina (134 cases), kano (124 cases) and Benue (100 cases) account for 68% of all cases, while 6 LGAs across two states — Cross River and Taraba — reported more than 100 cases each this year.’ - Punch
UK detects polio
As the world continues to fight COVID-19 and Monkeypox, the UK has detected traces of polio in east and west London.
Several closely related viruses were found in samples taken in North and East London between February and May, the UK Health Security Agency said on its website. It said findings suggest some spread between closely linked individuals.
The virus has continued to evolve and is now classified as a vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2.
Like most of the world, the UK has been polio free for over a decade. The UK’s last case of wild polio was in 1984 and the country was declared polio-free in 2003.
The virus spreads through food touched with contaminated (not properly washed) hands. It thrives in the victim’s stomach and passes in their faeces. In rare cases, it can affect the spine of infected individuals and cause paralysis.
Vanessa Saliba, consultant epidemiologist at the agency says that the risk to the public is “extremely low”.
Ukraine vs Russia affects medical students
The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) will not accept medical and dental degrees from Ukrainian universities obtained from 2022.
This decision was reached because of the ongoing war in Ukraine which has shifted the majority of university classes in the country online. The MDCN does not recognise online classes as efficient for medical degrees.
The council tweeted:
“We wish to inform the General Public that Medical and Dental Degree Certificates issued by Medical Schools from Ukraine from 2022 will NOT be honoured by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria until when normal academic activities resume”,
“For the avoidance of doubt, Council categorically states that online medical training done in any part of the world is short of an acceptable standard and is not recognised by the MDCN,”
The council also advised students affected by the declaration to seek transfers to other institutions.
Many of the returnee medical students from Ukraine wonder how six years of studies can be cancelled out because of 3 months of online classes. Read their stories and more here.
Organ trafficking in UK
Former deputy senate president of Nigeria, Ike Ekweremadu and his wife Beatrice have been arrested and charged with modern-day slavery, for bringing a child to the UK for organ harvesting. The prosecutors said the Ekweremadus were being charged for bringing a 15-year-old boy from Nigeria to the UK deceptively.
According to the prosecutors, the Ekweremadus told the child they were taking him to give him a better life in the UK.
The pair were charged to court on Thursday following an investigation by the police force’s specialist crime team.
They were arrested at Heathrow airport on their way to Istanbul where they were planning to procure a kidney from a donor in Turkey because they were unable to successfully extract the boy’s kidney (A report from an Arise correspondent says investigators believe that when the kid disclosed his age at the hospital, the doctors refused to go ahead with the operation)
According to Arise, Senator Ekweremadu was in possession of $20,000 at the time of his arrest.
The prosecutors reportedly informed the court that Mr Ekweremadu procured a passport for the boy and claimed he was 21 years old but the prosecutors say their investigation found that he is 15 years old.
According to the prosecutors, the duo have a daughter who has a kidney-related disease and has been on dialysis for quite some time. They added that they believe the plan was to use an organ from the boy on their daughter who appears to need a kidney transplant. - Premium Times
The Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court in London has denied them bail because they believe they are a flight risk. The case has been adjourned until the 7th of July.
Watch Arise’s report here.
The Director-General, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Fatima Waziri-Azi, says there is more internal trafficking than external trafficking.
She explained that this was because 83% of trafficking in Nigeria happened within states, within communities, and across state lines, adding that only 12% accounts for trans-border trafficking. - Premium Times
She disclosed this on Thursday in Benin at a meeting she held with stakeholders and partners of the agency in Edo.
Elections
You now have until August to get your PVC
The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday issued an order restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from ending the ongoing voter registration exercise on June 30.
The judge, Mobolaji Olajuwon, ruled in favour of an application by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and 185 other concerned Nigerians, which requested an extension of the PVC registration exercise.
INEC has not extended the PVC registration by 60 days, so we now have until the end of August to register
Note: online pre-registration ended in May, so you’ll need to go to your local INEC registration centre to complete the process. All you need to take with you is some ID.
See the list of local INEC offices separated by state here.
Work free days for PVC collection
The Osun State Government has declared Friday a work-free day to allow civil servants that have not collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) to do so.
In a statement, the Secretary to the State Government, Prince Wole Oyebamiji, harped on the importance of the PVC to the performance of their civic responsibility.
The statement read in part, “The Government of Osun State acknowledges the importance of workers in the democratic process, and is aware that the only way workers can give life to their aspiration for a worker-friendly government is through their votes. Consequently, Friday, June 24, has been declared a work-free day in all government offices across the state, to enable all public and civil servants to pick their PVC so they can perform their civic duty.” - Punch
Bauchi state government also declared June 27 a public holiday for PVC registration.
This is confirmed in a press statement issued by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Governor, Mukhtar Gidado.
He said the public holiday is to “enable citizens of the state who attained the age of 18 years after the 2019 general elections or lost their permanent voters card or even changed their location to take advantage of the ongoing INEC continuous voters registration exercise and obtain their Permanent Voters Card (PVCs).” - Channels
Federal Affairs
NASU and SSANU extend strike as FG promise to end ASUU strike
While the FG hinted at a possible end to the ASUU strike on Wednesday, The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and other Allied Institutions (NASU) have extended their ongoing strike by an additional two months.
This was affirmed in a statement signed jointly by the general secretaries of SSANU and NASU.
The unions said the extension of the industrial action will start on Friday, June 24.
The union noted that the extension was precipitated by the government’s “exceedingly slow pace” of negotiations. It noted that more demands are still yet to be met by the government.
Money
Polaris bank pays customer ₦500,000 over failed pos transaction
It’s been decades of banks frustrating customers in an unending saga but one Polaris bank user just added one point in the citizens’ corner and got paid ₦500,000 in damages from a failed POS transaction.
This happened on Wednesday in Akwa Ibom state after the customer, Idongesit Nwoko, complained that the bank did not reverse money into her account within 72 hours after a failed ₦61,000 POS transaction.
The 72-hour mark is a requirement by law but she was not credited. According to her, she made several efforts, including repeated visits to the bank, but the debit was not reversed until after 28 days. She later sued the bank through her lawyer, Utibe Nwoko, requesting her N61,000 refund and pay her N100 million as damages and N1 million as the cost of legal action.
The bank paid the money in obedience to an order of a State High Court in Uyo.
Nwoko told Premium Times on Wednesday evening that she was invited to a branch of the bank in Uyo, where the N500,000 cash was handed to her by an official from the bank.
She also advised other bank customers to always seek redress in the court of law whenever they are not treated fairly by bank officials.
CBN says it will not stop the sale of FX for overseas tuition
After the negative responses the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) received after making announcing plans to withdraw the ‘Form A’ discounted rate by December 31, 2022, they issued a following clarification.
‘Form A’ is a statutory document that allows customers to purchase forex at the CBN or interbank rate to perform non-goods operations.
According to CBN, the reporters quoted a university in the United Kingdom as claiming that Nigeria had withdrawn the CBN “Form A discounted rate” in order to encourage more funds to remain within the Nigerian economy. - The Cable
The CBN said on their Instagram that this claim is false.
Osita Nwanisobi, director, CBN communications department, the UK school’s report is false. Nwanisobi described it as misleading and speculative.
NAFDAC workers embark on strike over non-payment of allowances
The Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has embarked on strike.
Speaking on Wednesday at NAFDAC office in Lagos, Auwalu Yusuf Kiyawa, state chairman of the union, said the strike begins with immediate effect.
Kiyawa said the union will not call off the strike until the workers are paid their welfare packages.
A source told The Cable that only the Lagos and southern part of the union embarked on the strike.
Other news
IPPIS eliminated 70000 ghost workers, saving the government N220bn - Punch
Transport fare hikes over fuel scarcity - The Guardian
MTN, NCC to roll out 5G in August - The Guardian
Reps want gambling operators to collect NIN before placing bets - TheCable
Lagos is 2nd worst liveable city - Vanguard
ICPC recovers multi-billion naira cash from ex-army chief - Peoples Gazette
FG revoked two-year ban on basketball - Premium Times
FG collecting N10 per litre for sugary drinks - Peoples Gazette
NMPDRA insists on N165/litre petrol price - Arise
Military to compulsorily retire unmotivated soldiers - Premium Times
The All Progressives Congress may not have candidates for the Yobe North and Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial Districts in the 2023 elections because of controversies over primaries (More on this gist in next week’s issue)- Punch