AC Challenge FG Over Dipo Dina's Murder

By Lateef Lawal,Lagos


THE Federal Government has been urged to bring to an end the spate of politically motivated killings in the country.
The call was made by the Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress(AC),Alhaji Lai Mohammed while fielding questions from journalists at the Murtala Mohammed Airport,Ikeja,Lagos on the gruesome murder Monday(night),25,January,2010, of Otunba Dipo Dina,the AC gubernatorial candidate for Ogun Sate in the 2007 elections.
He noted that the inability of government to bring to book the previous high profile killings left much much more to be desired as to the essence of good governance.

Mohammed explained that the reaction of the party could not have come at a better time than now, when government needed to do something about the rising insecurity in the country as a build up to next year's general elections.
The AC scribe explained that the account so far given by the police on how the  2007 Ogun State governorship candidate  was felled was enough indication that there was something to hide.  He accused the police of a smear campaign as part of a script to muddle up investigations into the dastardly killing of the politician, whom he said government has a responsibility to protect his life not minding in whose company he was at the time of death.  Mohammed said : "Frankly speaking, not many Nigerians will be optimistic on the ability or the political will of the police to find the killers of Otunba Dipo Dina and that is not because we have no confidence in our police but that is because of the antecedents of the police. We have at least five high profile political motivated murders in our hands, that are begging to be solved for five six years on now. We have that of the late Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige.If the chief law officer of the country can be so brutally murdered, and no body is apprehended, then what is going to happen to lesser human beings.I think that happened in the Christmas of 2001 that’s close to a decade now and nothing, and we have that of Harry Marshal.  'We have that of Dikibo, we had that of Funso Williams and we begin to wonder whether the police can solve this one.Common sense will tell you that for a high profile murder like Dina Dipo, there must be some serious state backing, I mean no common criminal will walk up and go and attack a politician without assurance or backing from the highest quarters just like it happened with Rilwane and co and already the police is on a smear campaign. I was reading this morning in the papers that the lady who was in the vehicle was on a spiritual cleansing mission. How does that justify his being murdered in that brutal manner?.
It would be difficult for you not to link Dina’s death with his political activities and crusade, it’s for the police to convince us and I believe they are going to have a very uphill task."  On the directive by the Vice President , Goodluck Jonathan, that the Inspector general has been given a week to fish out the killers of the politician, he explained that the," AC does not have any confidence, in such directive because, it has not yielded any positive result in the past.We do not have any confidence in such directive,absolutely not. They, (the government) always talk tough most times you hear the IG relocating from his office in Abuja to the scene of the crime, I am not impressed.And there after nothing happens."
 

AKWA IBOM STATE TO SPEND N25BILLION ON AGRICULTURAL DEV.,

Report Posted By: Lateef Lawal,Lagos



Akwa Ibom State is to spend over N25 billion on the development of the agricultural sector as part of efforts by the  government to open up the State's socio- economic development as well as the creation of job opportunities for the teeming youths.


Governor Godswill Akpabio disclosed in an interview at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, while speaking on plans by the state government to interface with some Israeli farmers who were in the state to explore investment opportunities in the agricultural and allied sector.


He explained that plans are also afoot by the state government to open up the rural areas through the massive construction of roads to enable the farmers have access to the market for their products which could be used as raw materials for local industries.

Akpabio also spoke of plans to encourage indigenes of the state to embark on the cultivation of rice through collaboration with some investors from Thailand to teach the people how to grow rice to contribute to the economy of the state as rice is accelerating the economic development of Thialand as the world's largest exporter of rice.


The governor further explained that plans are also underway to fast track the growing of fruits such that the juice industry could come up in the state for export purposes.


Akpabio said : "The reality is that any nation that can not feed itself can not claim greatness. So, it has always been my vision that Akwa Ibom should be able to feed itself and particularly with the current economic meltdown and the global food insufficiency; it is important for us to make hays why the sun shines.
And in this year’s budget, we have left a large chunk for the agricultural sector and we have started to reach out to a lot of international partners and one of them is the Israeli farmers."


Akpabio further said : "They are coming here because they have been able to develop a technology that you can do what is called integrated farming. You can use a football field to feed a whole community without necessarily having a large expanse of land as a result of nothing, but technology.


For us, we believe strongly that we can learn a lot from Israel . So, that partnership is already working. We are going to Israel in February to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enable them come down to assist us in the agric sector.


We are doing the same thing with rice. The Vietnam farmers are already in Akwa Ibom; they have started the rice project in the state. They can bring technology down so that they can assist us in developing rice in that sector. And I can tell you with the airport already developed, it would be very easy for the agro-allied industry to spring up and of course, complemented by the independent power plant."


So, that is the sort of things we are hoping for at the end, we can produce something that will make it possible for raw materials to be used for the agro-allied industry on a large scale, which will also make it possible for a lot of small agro-allied industry to come.


For instance, here in Lagos , you see all this Ribena products and co, those things are not in the East or South-south.. They are either brought down from Lagos or imported into the country. We are hoping we can produce fruit juices through our own soil."


On the products that the state will go into, Akpabio said : " Particularly, look at cassava production, we have acquired a very robust plan of what we called Akwa Ibom State Integrated Farmers Scheme and outside that, we want to add value so that we can also have a kind of thing that Nigeria has. You buy things from the farmers to avoid loss. 
So, we are encouraging people also in the cassava area because from cassava, you can have a lot of flour and starch, which can also develop an agro-allied industry that will now lead to extraction that come with cassava that can assist a lot in the area of medicine.


For me, I think the future lies in agriculture and there is no gainsaying that it remains the greatest employer of labour. So, if you really want to create employment opportunities for children and youths in 2010, almost all the states of the federation must look at agriculture."


On the financial implication for the state, Akpabio said : "It is something you can not even quantify for now, but from the state level, we expect nothing less than N25 billion in the area of agriculture and I assure that it may even go above that as time goes on. It depends on the income that comes into the state. I’m very determined to make a difference in agriculture this year. "

Concessionaire Pays Over N400m to FAAN in 14 Months

The concessionaire in-charge of the toll gate at the Murtala Muhammed International AirportIkeja,Lagos claimed it paid N493 million to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) between Nov. 2008 and Dec. 2009.

Mr Moyosola Niran-Oladunni, Chief Executive Officer, Integrated Intelligent Imaging West Africa Ltd (I-CUBE.W.A), told aviation journalists that the company remits N40 million to FAAN monthly.

He stated that the company generated about N41.5 million in Nov. 2009, while in December the same year the company generated N37.9 million, as a result of fuel scarcity.

``We are the second highest revenue source for the authority,’’ I-CUBE.W.A boss said.

He disclosed that the company was in deficit to the tune of N92 million to its bankers which he declined to name.

``Only about 35 percent of those who ply the access road comply with payment at the toll gate,’’ Niran-Oladunni said, stressing that the other 65 percent do not pay.

The concessionaire noted that staff of the company had often been beaten and assaulted by some individuals who claimed to be government officials.

According to him, the officials have always refused to pay the toll fee while their vehicle plate numbers are covered.He said that traffic count at the toll gate is done both electronically and manually.

He said that traffic count at the toll gate is done both electronically and manually.``In order to serve users of the access road better, the access gate is now automated effectively,’’ he said.

He said that traffic count at the toll gate is done both electronically and manually.``In order to serve users of the access road better, the access gate is now automated effectively,’’ he said.Niran-Oladunni added that the company had proposed to expand the access road from the current four lanes to 10 lanes so as to reduce traffic congestion on the road.

    

CRIME FIGHTING:We Will Not Relapse-Police AIG,Zone 2,M.D Abubakar

Sir, you achieved a lot last year in crime fighting, what do you have in store this year to consolidate on 2009?

My zone comprises of Lagos and Ogun State, it is very complex, very delicate and challenging zone in the area of safety and security of lives and property of individuals and we thank God that in 2009 we were able to achieve much in the area of crime control and management which to the fact that crime has been reduced to the barest minimum because of certain strategies put in place and the strategies are not far fetched from the fact that we decided to be thorough in our management style in our methodology of fighting crime and introduced new strategies by taking the fight to the criminals hideout and their dens. You don’t wait for criminals to come out looking for fertile ground to operate that is intelligence network policy, information management and control through the assistance and support of the citizens of this state both Lagos and Ogun and equally through the assistance and support of state government, both state have done very well in terms of support to the police commands and you are aware that Lagos have even surpassed where other states stopped by providing two helicopters to be used for crime control, traffic control and management and disaster management itself. This is an added advantage to Lagos and that is why we would continue to be grateful to the governor of Lagos state who is very passionate about crime control and management and is very particular and he feels that he has that social responsibility which had been given to him constitutionally to protect lives and property and I do say that anybody who is a leader is not only given a constitutional responsibility, he is given a duty by God to discharge to his people and we are happy that governor Fashola is one such governor we can to talk about at any given time , he is there for us 24/7 and opens his door whenever we knock.

Do you also receive the same co-operation from his counter-part in Ogun State?

Ogun State is equally putting their best in terms of support to the police command, giving vehicles and other logistics support but you have to look at the two states competitively, look at the areas of interest, they are not same, the complicity of these two places could be similar but Lagos being the hub, nerve center, commercial center of this country in west Africa then we have the sea borders, air border and land border and so it is somehow problematic and this is where you have all the residences of all the offices of embassies, the biggest companies and they have their offices here in Lagos so we should expect that Lagos should be more in terms of the challenges of day-to-day policing and more importantly we look at the population, we are talking about 18-20million, so it is not a small city you can talk about anywhere in the world compare to Ogun state where the population is less and the challenges are not going to be the same with that of Lagos. If you compare the two, Ogun have equally done their best in terms of supporting the police but you cannot compare it with Lagos that has additional fleet of helicopters, marine port and the rest of them.

In the area of logistics, would you say you actually have enough to carryout your duty?

Well, you see the word enough is in relative term depending on what you mean by enough, human beings must times don’t get enough of ideally what they want, in the security challenges of what we have of today, we can say comfortably we have tools that we can be able to face challenges of the day-to-day policing and you can see how we are able to equally do those things we are suppose to do in terms of fighting crime gradually and achieving the result. Actually, the equipments we have are good enough; the federal government too has done much more in terms of providing the fire fighting which the state could not provide. When I was commissioner of police in Lagos, initially you find that policemen go to work with 45 rounds of live ammunitions the reverse is the case now, we upgraded it to 60 rounds of live ammunitions and ensured that no policeman go less than 30 lives of round of ammunitions to any operation.

So you are confidently saying that your men are well equipped to fight criminals.

I underline the word ‘Well equipped’, crime is a very dynamic thing and so to do with equipment scientifically, so everyday you are talking about modernization, you can see we have the AK-47 and there is AK-49 in the making, so, there is nothing wrong in having to see a policemen well kitted with walkie-talkie, with a cell phone, with his riffle and well dressed so that he can earn the respect that he is suppose to get because the police is the symbol of the state, executive of any particular country of the world because that is the only way you can feel and see government when law enforcement are executed rightly and fairly without fear or favor. You can say, we have equipment to face the challenges of day-to-day crime otherwise we wouldn’t have been where we are today.

Are there new strategies you are putting in place in addition to the one you have before to combat crime apart from armed robberies?

There are strategies, you know strategies are always kept in the safe because am sure as you can see how we even learn from what we see and from nature, we want to keep the strategies to our self, yes there are strategies without strategies you cannot achieve what we have achieved. We have a work plan for 2010 and our work plan for 2010 that I can be able to reveal now is (1) the police in this zone intend to be more proactive, we intend to police by objective and give support and communicate more with the communities who we serve and we intend to extend a hand of relationship to the people of this zone and of this country and we as the police officers of the zone, it is our objective and plan to ensure  because we have started a training late last year for human rights cases to ensure that our officers and men realize that we are servant of the people and if we are suppose to serve, we must serve well, we should do it in a manner that is expected of us, we have a constitutional responsibility, we must be fair, firm and without fear or favour to anybody and this we want to ensure that it is done.

And that is why late last year we had conferences and seminars, our assistant commissioners of police, area commanders in charge of investigation department so that we can be able to tell them the nitty-gritty of what we expect from them, so that it can go down the ladder and we equally  did another seminars for the rank and file because they are the people we see daily on the street, to me they are  the greatest human beings we have in the service because they are very dear to us, they are the true soldiers that we use on a daily basis and the image they make for the police is very key and important to us and we are  beginning to look at the menaces of what we see on the road, am talking about the area of bribery and corruption and I do know that bribery and corruption is a two way street, Nigerians are very gullible when it comes to things of this nature. Your men are on the road collecting money, who is giving them money, monkey or animals, we all need to ask such question, if it takes two to tangle the giver and the taker are guilty of the same offence committed but I think on our own we have not been able to most times charge the givers to court because what we do is to go round and we anticipate that if we see swizzed money ordinarily unexpected of you , we will think and assume you must have collected the money from members of the public which means we have conflict, no service in this country, no organization in this country including yours that have furnish their staff the way we do, get them arrested, detain them, try them, dismiss them and charge them to court, only the Nigerian police does this, if every organization takes this challenges the way we do and fight it the way we are fighting it then I think the cases of bribery and corruption will reduce drastically. We cannot exterminate corruption because is synonymous with the society and everywhere in the world you have cases of corruption it all depends on how it is done, the police probably come to the glare of the public because we are the closest organization to the people all over the world and we cannot change this, the manner and way you do it is what matters but we are not only looking at the matter but we are saying it must be stopped and we are making efforts. Successive Inspectors Generals of Police have done all this include the present IG, he has started monitoring units in all the zones and they go out to check and ensure that people are not being harassed, we had times in this country where photographs of officers and men who collected money were shown on televisions and on the pages of newspapers, this is all ways of ensuring that look, you should be shameful, if you families and friend see you then we do it to equally ensure that it deter others from doing it but human beings  what they are and I do say anybody, it is not the manner of salary you pay the individuals that matters it is the individual himself.

How do you intend monitoring some people who put on police uniform to commit some of these crimes?

It is not that we do not monitor, we do, we have what is called the escort, the monitoring unit but do remember that, if Nigerians decide on their own, the worse place anybody we want to take you to is the police station, he will tell you ,you have committed a crime he takes you to the police station but why should Nigerians commit the crime themselves you cannot commit in England, Niger, if today there is motor traffic check, you will find thousands of Nigerians do not obey the law but they blame the police, check their cars, you will discover that their drivers license, vehicle license have expired. Those people who cannot call anybody to save them, the bad policeman on the road capitalize on that situation and collect money but assuming that that individual has done what he is suppose to do there would be no opportunity for him to collect money. They write one way, you are driving on a traffic you are in a hurry, you say my wife has just delivered, is that the reason why you should take one way? Or oga am just in a hurry to get to the office, is not enough, so if the police talk to you, you have two options, either to follow the law and follow him to the police station where they will give you paper to say come back tomorrow, take you car, particulars and give you a small retention note as we call it traffic wise so that you can be able to come back tomorrow and be charged to court but the individual does not want to be charged to court and in the process of even taking the paper if he has one, you find that the license is expired, the insurance is expired, he has no driver’s license and additional charges will be added, you weigh the options, this man is only asking for N1,000 if I go to court how much would they have charged me after conviction which means that you have convicted for traffic offense and more importantly he has wasted his time, the implication of this is that the individual is a law breaker, so, some of the bad policemen capitalize on this situations but my appeal here is, why cant every Nigerians be a good citizen and patriotic citizen of this country, I have a car I renew my license, do my insurance, do my vehicle license, change my tyres, my trafickators are working well, fire extinguisher in the car, am sure if will check all these in your car they are not there and therefore the policeman will have that opportunity because a police constable who you think is not educated is educated to know his job that is fine for us, if he is educated to know his job to say that your fir extinguisher is not there, some people will say what is your business with that,  the extinguisher is a key component of the vehicle, it is his business because if there is a disaster, how do you save him and others? Your tyres are worn-out; they would say the policeman is looking for money, it is not you that matters to us but others because you have already decided to kill yourself by using worn-out tyres, so we protect other road users, this are issues that are very, very key.

How would you describe police community relationship?

I think in the area of Lagos and Ogun states it is working well because in the pass it was difficult for people to come and give you information but I think it has improved very, very tremendously. Though have seen occasions were people work to our offices, walk into CPS office and DPO’s office and tell them ABCD has happened and under that confidentiality we treat it very well. But the wrong thing is when you see a police constable walking on the street and you now run to him and say please Oga, we get armed robbers there, I mean it doesn’t make a lot of sense but when you go and confine to a senior officer in the office because cases of robbery and information you are going to give is very, very sensitive, and therefore it should be treated with some level of secrecy.

LAGOS TO CHECK SPREAD OF SWINE FLU

 *FASHOLA COMMEND EX-CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE FEDERATION

Lagos State Government has taken  steps to checkmate
the spread of the disease, Influenza AH1N1, also known as ' Swine Flu', which
claimed its first casualty in the center of excellence last week.
The steps taken by the state government was as a result of the death of a 38
year old woman that died recently as well as eight others who tested positive  to
the disease.
The State Governor,Babatunde Raji Fashola who spoke to reporters at the presidential wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos on arrival from Abuja explained that the state could not have
taken less steps in view of its population and position in the country, because
it could not afford to allow the deadly disease to flourish in the metropolis.He explained that as a responsible government, the state has empowered the Ministry of Health and its team to to direct Lagosians on the appropriate hygeinic steps to be taken, even as relevant sanitary materials have been provided in
prescribed centers across the state to curb any spread of the disease.Only recently, the state government carried out laboratory tests on some persons suspected to have contacted the disease, out of  46, eight  were confirmed positive of Influenza AH1N1.Fashola said : " With what the  Commissioner for Health said, the number of  medical officers in this state , have done, I am sure we are  on top of the situation.He has indicated to  members of the public the number of people that have beenscreened. I think they are 52 and I think eight persons  tested positive, what he is doing also to effect treatment and also  the public campaign that has been in place to ensure preventive steps are taken so that we don’t contaminate or spread this global infection.
Fashola further said : " We are, one of the first  state to alert the public about this outbreak very early last year, even before any case was ever recordedin Nigeria .We were acting very pre-emptively and proactively in the discharge of our responsibilities to protect life and property.There are hand cleaning liquids, there are  hand washing facilities that we have put in place in anticipation of it.So we are on top of our job, we are on top of the situation. And I urge people to remain calm and follow the advice of the  commissioner and we will overcome this as this is not unique to us.Much more powerful nations and countries have been subjected to this and they have done basically what we are doing. So it now behoves us really as citizens to
ensure that this doesn’t become an epidemic by following simple rules of
hygiene."

On the controversy surrounding the swearing in of the new Chief justice of the Federation, Fashola commended the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Idris Legbo Kutigi  for the hounourable role he played
in accelerating the swearing -in of a successor without creating a vacuum or elongating his tenure as some people will do under the circumstance.
According to Fashola, such noble role could only come from an illustrious and honourable member of the learned profession, who will at all times uphold the tenets of the constitution  as it affects tenure of appointed public officers.
Fashola challenged other legal luminaries to emulate the discipline of the eminent jurist who he said has
been properly documented in legal history.He remarked, "The CJN, is a very member of the judiciary.His
illustrious judicial career have been appropriately documented and will also be documented by judicial correspondents and judicial historians.But I think what I want to take away is for us to sit back and reflect that, what if  this man-Justice Kutigi had behaved like some of us had behaved in the past.
What if at that time when we were unsure of what will happen, he had said maybe they
should elongate his own tenure too.What if he had said okay, I have finished and I am going away, you solve the problem? He refuse to do all of that, he stood behind and gave us a new Chief
Justice. There will be debatable legal opinion about what happened.But there is a Supreme Court now to decide that point, if it comes up. We could probably not have had a supreme court if he choose to walk away. And I think that we must all salute his courage, we must salute his character.
I want to commend that kind of conduct at a time when there seems to be no
facts. All of us were looking at what will happen by 31st of December, 2009.
What will happen to the Judiciary? What will happen to the executive? Who was
going to lead? That man showed courage. I think he deserves to be saluted."

AVIATION ROUND TABLE OPPOSE FINANCIAL BAIL OUT FOR AIRLINE OPERATORS

*Says ?Operators Have Incompetent, Fraudulent Managements

Members of the Aviation Round Table(ART) have opposed any financial bail out for airline operators in Nigeria as been proposed by the Minister of Finance, Mansur Muktar.
The association also condemned what it described as one-sided meeting held on October,22,2009 with only selected members of the Airline Operators of Nigeria(AON) and representatives of the Federal Government adding that ,?the crisis in the Aviation Industry can not be addressed by one unit?, out of several stakeholders in the industry.
In a 6-page memo sent to the presidency and the ministry of aviation and endorsed by the President of ART, Captain Dele Ore and the General Secretary, Mr Sam Owolabi Akerele, the body which strongly opposed funding bail out for the airlines said, :
?We humbly plead that the intervention fund from government should not be given to domestic airlines whose management have proven to be incompetent, fraudulent and lacking sufficient expertise to run an efficient and profitable organisation?.
The non-governmental body however said if domestic operators must be given bail out, it should be operators who have passed the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority?s(NCAA) economic audit with acceptable financial plan for survival and growth.
On the earlier meeting government held with AON, members of the Aviation Round Table prayed for the convening of another 2-Day workshop in Abuja of all stakeholders in the industry where solutions would be proposed for the crisis be-devilling the aviation sector in the country.
Their other prayers are that-
*All domestic operators, schedule, non-schedule and charter operators must re-group into categories such that anyone with an aircraft or airline can not be an executive member of Airline Operators or hold life position in a democratic organization;
* Subsidy on aviation fuel to be introduced or reduced fuel surcharge by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria(FAAN);
*Reduced Custom Duties on Aircraft Engines and Spares;
*Usage of BASA fund for Aviation Infrastructural Development by the para-ministry agencies; Policies to enhance up-surge of passengers in air transportation;
*Re-evaluate the establishment of State airports, and such airports should be maintained by the State government for at least 10 years and On Airport Concessioning-government should set up Infrastructure and Regulatory Commission and put in place other legislation to achieve proper private/public partnership that would ensure transparent and efficient cum competitive concessioning process .

RESTRICT ‘NUDE’ SCREENING TO U.S BOUND PASSENGERS ONLY

            -AON ASST., GENERAL SECRETARY,M.TUKUR

                                                                                      

The Federal Government has been advised to restrict the complete body scanning of to passengers who are traveling to the United States of America(USA) only due to heightened threats of Al Qaeda terror gang against her citizens.

 The advise was given by the Assistant Secretary General of Airline Operators of Nigeria(AON), Alhaji Mohammed Tukur in an interview with NigerianAviationNews today in Lagos.

However, he said those that would not want to be subjected to the complete body screening through the 3D Body Imaging Screening machine for one religious reason or another should not venture traveling to the U.S in view of the latest security breach by the alleged Al Qaeda agent, AbdulMutallab who attempted to bomb a Northwest flight in Detriot on December,25,2009.

According to Tukur, passengers not traveling to the U.S should be saved the embarrassments of the inhuman exposure of their privacy.

He said that the government and aviation authorities should device another means to tighten security at all airports instead of adopting in totality the U.S option of body imaging machine.

He describe as unfortunate, the listing of Nigeria among the terror watch list of the U.S adding that Nigerian government had in the recent past did its best to contain pockets of crisis such as those of the Boko Haram,Jos ,Bauchi and lately the Niger Delta militants.

He believed that the absence of President Yar A’dua contributed to the unfortunate labeling of Nigeria among the countries put under watch and that if the president had been around, he would have spoken with the U.S President,Barak Obama on the involvement of the Nigerian bomber and apologise for the embarrassment the incident had caused.

Speaking on the planned take off of Rahamaniyya Airline being mid-wife by him for Alhaji Rahamaniyya of the Rahamaniyya Oil&Gas Company, Tukur said the January,2010 take-off month was no longer feasible in view of the non-readiness of the chairman and some internal crisis in the parent company.

He added,:’It is the chairman that can say specifically when the airline will debut.I cannot wait for people who are not ready’.

Asked whether he was planning to float an airline,he went rethorics and said,’You wait.In the next few days we are likely going to unveil something new’.

He said in the country today,existing airlines are faced with acute shortage of aircraft for their operations while there are many with Airline Operating Certificate(AOC) but are not in service due to lack of fund to purchase or lease aircraft,adding that there was nothing wrong in investing in any of the existing airlines to make them stronger and financially stable to be able to acquire more planes and expand their route network.

He said that the Minister of Aviation,Babatunde Omotoba has not been helping the industry as expected.Instead of paying more attention to the up-grading of existing infrastructures in the four major airports of Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt as directed by the Federal Government last year,Omotoba was busy exerting energy in constructing a new airport in his home-state.

While saying that the Minister misplace his priority in the developing the industry to an enviable and vibrant status during his tenure, he has allowed his personal interest to overshadow the national interest.

Tukur noted that the airport the Minister was planning for his State in Ekiti would end up like those of Gombe,Katsina ,Akure,Ilorin ,Yola ,Sokoto and Akwa Ibom .

He queried,:’How many airlines patronize these airports today?What is the level of passenger traffic into and out of the aforementioned airports?
Story By-Lateef Lawal

NDLEA BOSS HAIL INTRODUCTION OF FULL BODY SCANNING AT AIRPORTS

*WARNS DRUG BARONS OF TOUGH TIMES

*ARRESTS DRUG TRAFFICKER WITH 

933GRMS OF COCAINE

By Lateef Lawal,MMA,Lagos

Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Ahmadu Giade has expressed support for the use of  full  body scanning in  several  countries following the latest terror alert.

The development, according to him was a clear  red "alert"signal to drug barons of tough days ahead. Giade said that 2010  will be a tough year for drug syndicates as the international community is adopting stiffer measures in passenger screening. 

He noted that global security checks have heightened at exit and entry points in line with the Agency’s determination to frustrate drug barons within the year.

The NDLEA boss emphasised that ,"terror threat has redefined global security checks. The increase in the use of full body scanning machines will make the year a painful one for drug barons. Be it air, land and sea travel, traffickers must be prepared for difficult times”. Since the failed attempt to detonate an explosive on a Detroit bound airliner on December 25 2009, passenger screening worldwide has taken a different dimension. The development in Nigeria has yielded good results.

Meanwhile, 29 year old Ogbeide Prince was the first drug trafficker to be nabbed in the new year.as he was arrested on the 1^st of January 2010 at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos by anti-narcotic officials. 

Ogbeide was detected with the aid of scanning machine on new year day at about 9:25 pm local time for ingesting narcotic drugs during the screening of passengers on Alitalia Flight. His final destination was Venezia in Italy where he has gone to sojourn since 2007.

 He admitted ingesting 73 pieces of substances that tested positive to cocaine weighing 922 grammes. Ogbeide who was to be paid the sum of 4,000 Euros attributed his involvement in drug trafficking to hardship arising from inability to pay his rent and settle basic bills after being jobless for six months. 

“I travelled to Europe in 2007 but things went wrong when I lost my job and was unable to settle my bills. That was when I gave in to drug trafficking. On arrival from Italy, I was taken to a hotel where I swallowed the drugs. My sponsors told me that security will be week on New Year day. Unfortunately, I was arrested” Ogbeide stated.

Reacting to the arrest of Ogbeide, NDLEA Airport commander Alhaji Hamza Umar said that the suspect’s arrest is a warning to others that the Agency will stop any move by drug barons to smuggle drugs this year. 

“The arrest of Obgeide Prince on 1st January is a strong indication to all drug traffickers that the year will not be easy for drug traffickers” Hamza stated. The 29 year old from Idemili in Anambra State South East Nigeria said that he would have started a grocery business in the country if he had succeeded.  

 

 

Re-IMPORTATION OF SUB-STANDARD GOODS FROM CHINA: Chief Uwaekwe Blame Unscrupulous Businessmen

Comment from: Kemi

The importation of sub-standard goods from China is a worrisome issue. The wost part is that most people willing to buy original goods were been presented with this sub- standard goods as original. My sincere plea to Nigeria government is to please do everything to put a stop to its importation and all offenders including the sellers should be punished.

Comment from: Grafika-M

China is one of the biggest world investors! Nigeria is one of interesting object for China in Africa!

Comment from: Mike Obaji

I am a nigerian who resides in China.Everything used in China is produced here in China and they are of very high standard.
Some wicked and disgruntled Nigerian importers come here to request for fake goods to maximize profits but as long as nigeria continues to have weak and unenforceable laws that respect sacred cows,we will continue to talk,talk,talk,talk..........!!!!!