Motorists to get speed limiting device – FRSC

The Ogun State Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps, Mr. Adegoke Adetunji, has said motorists in the country are expected to get a speed limiting device in their vehicles from next year.

The device, which he called speed limiter, would control excessive speeding by motorists, since it would regulate the speed of each vehicle.


Adetunji said this on Wednesday at the motor park enlightenment campaign on ‘Safety on the road during the ember months and beyond’ at the Ayetoro Motor Park, Lafenwa, Abeokuta.

It was organised by the Ogun State chapter of the National Association of Seadogs in conjunction with the state FRSC to enlighten commercial drivers on the need to drive safely during the yuletide.

He noted that enlightenment on the speed limiting device had started across the country, stressing that high speed had been responsible for many road crashes.

He said, “From June 1, 2015, we will begin to enforce it. It will become an offence for any motorist not to have a speed limiter installed in his or her vehicle.

“Once a speed limiter is installed in any vehicle, it gets to regulate speed. No matter the pressure a driver puts on the accelerator, the vehicle will not move beyond that regulated speed.

“Again, if the road is in a deplorable state or there is fog, definitely the motorist will slow down.”

Adetunji, who did not give details about the agency that will install the device and what amount each motorist will pay to get it, said private and commercial vehicle owners must get it.

The President, Nigeria Association of Seadogs, Mr. Michael Kowo, said the group was moved to organise the programme in conjunction with the FRSC due to a fatal auto crash he witnessed in which lives were lost.

He said no effort was too much to reduce the carnage on the roads.

The Chairman, National Union of Road Transport Workers, Ayetoro Motor Park, Mr. Adeyemi Rahman, commended the organisation for the programme, stressing that the members of the union had benefitted immensely from it.

Officials from the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Vehicle Inspection Office, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, were at the event.

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APC has no meaningful programme for Nigeria - PDP

The National leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP yesterday challenged the opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, APC to a debate where achievements of President Goodluck Jonathan led government would form the discourse.

According to PDP, the APC which is the main opposition has no meaningful programme for Nigeria.
The leadership of the party also insisted that all the forthcoming general elections must hold in the crisis ridden North-East States in 2015 as scheduled despite the security challenges in the Zone, just as PDP said that if governors of affected states had woken up to the task of addressing the challenge of insurgency, the problem would not have got to this magnitude.

Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states out of the six states are the front line states and presently under state of emergency.

Speaking yesterday on Kiss FM 99.9 , PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh stressed that there was no reason why the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC will not conduct elections in these areas as being agitated in some quarters.

Metuh said, “after all these states which are being controlled by the opposition had successfully conducted Council elections at the peak of insurgents while bye-elections to the state and National Assemblies were held during the period,so,what are they saying?

“If the State Governors in the affected states have been alive to their responsibilities as being done by the PDP controlled Federal Government,the situation would have been brought under control,rather they are busy attacking the President and our Party as responsible for the insecurity and that elections will not hold in the affected states,elections must hold and PDP will spring surprises.

“That is a shallow and callous thinking from the opposition,how can the President be sponsoring crisis in a country he is presiding,even the President made it cleared on several occasions that his presidential does not deserve the blood of any Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan is a refined gentle man who will never have such a sinister motive against anybody or his father land.

“What is regrettable is that those leading members of the main opposition,the All Progressives Congress,APC,that are making unguarded utterances against the President and the PDP were former members of our party who got to where they are today on our platform before they defected,one of then even said that if APC did not win the 2015 Presidential election,they will not go to court but will go and form a parallel government.

“We have made our position known in our Press statement of yesterday that enough is enough, PDP will no longer tolerate such barbaric attacks again,if any one of them tries again,we will go out in full swing and expose such a character.”

Speaking on the defection of the Speaker, House of Representatives, Metuh noted that the position of the party as to do with morality, integrity and Constitutional matters for Nigerians to decide and more so that the matter was already before Court.

On the allegation by the APC that the Police personnel aided thugs to invade the National Assembly last week to harass its law makers’ members, PDP spokesperson who dismissed the allegation, however urged members of the public to wait for the outcome of the police investigation into the alleged invasion.

Metuh said, “What are they trying to say again? National Assembly members belong to different political parties and how can one identify their political parties,to the best of my knowledge they don’t wear uniforms and how did APC come to a conclusion that their members were the target?

Metuh who urged Nigerians to disregard all the propaganda and blackmail of the APC,said,”APC is not a better opposition we need in the country, it is out to derail our growing democracy,we have said before and we are saying it again and we will continue to say it.”

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Nigerians in Ghana prisons cry out for help

His name in Igbo language means “Lord bless me”. But today Chigozie is certainly not feeling blessed as he is one of the numerous Nigerians currently serving various jail terms in Ghanaian prisons.

He was arrested at the airport in Ghana while trying to smuggle Marijuana to Hong Kong and was subsequently sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. Chigozie’s health is said to have deteriorated, allegedly due to the poor condition of the prison. They (inmates) are allegedly denied food and medical attention when sick.

Chigozie and other Nigerians who are languishing in Ghanaian prisons have, therefore, appealed to the Federal Government to repatriate them back to Nigeria to complete their jail terms.\

“I want to first of all, say that I am truly sorry for engaging in drug trafficking and bringing dishonour to my country, Nigeria. Before I was arrested, I was supplying computer accessories to traders in Ghana.

I later got involved in drug trafficking and was caught with Marijuana at the Airport while attempting to travel to Hong Kong. I was charged to court and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. I have already served about 12 months and still have 14 years to go.

Presently, I am very sick and need medical care. But the authorities have refused to allow me and other Nigerian prisoners access to medical attention. I don’t want to die in a foreign prison. We are treated like animals and the conditions are terrible. When a Nigeria eventually dies in prison, his relatives are not usually notified,” he said.

Pleads for government intervention

Continuing, he said: “ I am pleading to the Nigeria government to intervene to enable Nigerians who are prisoners in Ghana have access to medical treatment when sick or better still, bring us back to serve our jail terms in Nigeria.

Our families are in the dark, they really don’t know what we are facing. We’ve spent a lot of money trying to appeal in court, but all to no avail.

“ I have witnessed over 100 deaths of Nigerian citizens in Ghanaian prisons and most of their families are not even aware. They still nurse the hope of their return without knowing they are dead and thrown into the bush. We appeal to the government of Nigeria to please act on our behalf and repatriate us back home. We have many Nigerians in all the 46 prisons in Ghana that need the help of the Nigerian government.”

Another prisoner at Nsawam Medium Security Prison, Ghana who insisted on anonymity said: “I’m serving a jail-term of 50 years for narcotics not worth up to one kilogramme. I am presently in my sixth year in jail

Appeal
“We appeal to the Nigerian government to please come to our aid and repatriate us back to Nigerian prisons to serve our remaining sentences. The condition here is very unbearable. We need to reconnect with our families. The Ghanaian police are fond of arresting innocent Nigerians, giving them high sentences of 50, 70 ,100, 150 to 200 years. Most of us have spent eight, 10, 15, 17 and 20 years in prison and some have died without completing their jail terms,” he alleged.

Revenge
“ My prosecutor told me that he is dealing with Nigerians as a revenge for what the Nigerian government did to Ghanaians in 1983 and 1985 when they were deported during the infamous Ghana-Must-Go.”

Pray for us
He appealed to Nigerians to “please continue to pray for us and do what you can to bring us back home”. His words: “Another sad part is that most of us are on sick bed without drugs and food. We are in prison yet we feed our selves.

This is the hardship Nigerian citizens in all the prisons in Ghana are facing. I have been sick for the past three months and they have not taken me to the hospital or given me any drug. They treat us like animals. They give us only dry garri.

We have no access to communication. I know how I suffered to reach you. Our hopes and the lives of about 800 to 1000 Nigerian prisoners in the 46 prisons in Ghana lies in your hand. Please, help us reach out to the Nigeria government”.

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Boko Haram bombs 5 soldiers, 30 hunters

No fewer than 35 people, including five military personnel and a local hunter, were said to have been killed by a bomb explosion yesterday morning around Mararaba-Mubi area of Adamawa State.

An eyewitness told newsmen in Yola, the state capital, that a combined team of the military and hunters were on routine patrol of the area following their successful recapture of Mubi town when the bomb planted by the insurgents exploded, killing 35 of them instantly.

According to the eyewitness, the scene of the blast was a busy area where people gathered to transact business, adding that the explosive might have been planted there overnight while it went off in the morning as people gathered there.

The eyewitness, who spoke to newsmen on phone, said the military had converted the venue of the blast to a checkpoint, since people were always at the spot in large numbers.

According to him, “my house is some metres from the scene of the incident. I stood outside my compound watching the suburb and all of a sudden, I heard a loud bang which shook the entire surroundings. The few people who were returning to the area started running away and the area was immediately cordoned off by the military.”

The explosion prompted the military authorities to declare the area “a no go place” and advised returning villagers and passers-by to be extra cautious along the routes.

The authorities also cautioned the people to be wary of strange objects and polythene bags within their reach, advising that they might be explosives fashioned out to look attractive for unsuspecting victims.

Meanwhile, hundreds of local hunters keeping vigil with the military in the recovered areas of Adamawa State have vowed to ensure that the sect members are completely chased out
The hunters, who were returning to the recaptured areas of Mubi and its environs, told newsmen, yesterday, in Yola that their major pre-occupation now was to ensure that the area is completely secured for the inhabitants to return to their homes.

The leader of the hunters, Young Moris, pledged that they will do everything to ensure that Michika and Madagali are equally rid of the insurgents very soon.

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Nigeria's Petroleum Minister, Alison-Madueke Elected First OPEC Female President

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has been elected the first female president of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).


Alison-Madueke was elected President of OPEC Thursday at the ongoing 166th General Meeting of the body in Vienna, Austria.

She replaces former President of OPEC, Libyan Vice Prime Minister for Corporations, Abdourhman Atahar Al-Ahirish.

She was before her election this morning the alternate president of OPEC and is expected to immediately begin to serve her one-year term at the helm of OPEC affairs.

OPEC is expected to at the 166th meeting, take key decisions that could halt the dwindling price of crude oil.

Al-Ahirishhad in his opening remarks before the closed door meeting stated that ample supply, moderate demand, a stronger US dollar and uncertainties about global economic growth have been key factors in the recent price trend.

This, he noted, was in addition to the impact of speculative activities in the oil market.

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Why we can’t sack Keshi — NFF

The leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation have admitted that their hands are tied where Stephen Keshi’s tenure as coach of the Eagles is concerned.

Nigerians are calling for the resignation of Keshi following his failure to qualify Nigeria for next year’s AFCON defence of the title he won in 2013.'

But the Edo born coach still wants to remain as coach.

He is yet to be offered a new deal and the NFF have been silent on his future, a situation which a board member of the NFF said was out of their control.

“The last time we did what we thought was best, we were forced to revert the changes by people in high places. This time around we are helpless”, the source lamented.

“We are scared of announcing we won’t renew his deal due to what happened last time and unless he resigns or walks away we can’t help out”, he further added.

Keshi himself has insisted he is still the best man for the job.

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PICTURES: China opens 100-bed Ebola treatment center in Liberia

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf speaks at the opening ceremony of the Ebola treatment center in Monrovia on Nov. 25, 2014. (Xinhua/Jiang Heng)

Chinese soldiers stand at attention at the opening ceremony of the Ebola treatment center in Monrovia on Nov. 25, 2014.(Xinhua/Jiang Heng)

This photo taken on Nov. 25, 2014 shows the Ebola treatment center built by China in Monrovia.(Xinhua/Jiang Heng)

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Sierra Leone Ebola burial teams dump bodies in street

Burial workers in eastern Sierra Leone were sacked Tuesday after snatching Ebola victims from a mortuary and dumping their bodies in the street in a pay dispute.

The workers, who were on a one-day strike over non-payment of risk allowances, left at least a dozen corpses around the public hospital in the city of Kenema, once one of the epicentres of the epidemic.

“I am disappointed that they displayed the bodies because of the quest for money,” Paul Conteh, head of the National Ebola Response Centre, told reporters in the capital Freetown.

“They ignored the dignity and respect for the dead. I am not against them withholding their services but this is unacceptable.”

Bodies were also abandoned outside the offices of hospital managers, according to officials and witnesses, although it was not clear how long they were left lying around.

Ebola is spread through contact with bodily fluids and the risk of infection is particularly high with the corpse of someone who has recently died.
“Six or seven bodies were laid out in nearby streets in full view of the public,” one Kenema resident told AFP.

– Three children’s bodies –

“Some of the strikers were dressed in protective gear and the corpses were in body bags but they had a disturbing smell. Three of the bodies were those of children.”

Witnesses described how the strikers — thought to have numbered around 30 — blocked an army van which had come to pick up the bodies before soldiers persuaded the protesters to stand down.
More than 1,200 Sierra Leoneans have died in the worst Ebola outbreak on record since it spread in May from Guinea to the country’s eastern region, which includes Kenema.

The government, which had a fund set aside to pay risk allowances, has launched an investigation into why the cash did not reach the burial teams for more than a month.

The strike follows similar industrial action earlier this month at a clinic near Bo — the only Ebola treatment centre in the country’s southern region.

The epidemic has killed around 5,500 people in west Africa this year, almost all in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

UNMEER, the United Nations Ebola response mission, set a “70-70-60″ target in October to isolate and treat 70 percent of suspected Ebola cases in west Africa and safely bury 70 percent of the dead within 60 days.

Last week the government announced an Ebola death in Kenema after the city had gone more than three weeks without new infections.

The case dashed hopes that while the contagion continues to spread fast in the western area encompassing Freetown, the eastern region where the crisis first emerged had beaten the virus.
The health ministry said an eighth doctor had contracted Ebola and was being treated in Hastings, a short drive outside Freetown.

The previous seven have all died.

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44-year old woman who was barren for 18 years gives birth to quadruplets

A 44-year old woman, Mrs Clara Dominique, who has been looking for a child for 18 years, was delivered of quadruplets last Saturday in Benin, the Edo State capital.

The quadruplets comprise three girls and a boy.



They were delivered at the Graceland Medical Centre in the ancient city.

Mrs. Clara said she got married in 1996, adding that it was God’s grace that kept her and her husband throughout the years of childlessness.

The happy mother said she and her husband refused to keep friends because of the childlessness.

She said: “I am happy that my husband and I were able to stay together till this day to witness the blessings of the Lord. My husband has been encouraging me that God would do it for us. My husband never contemplated driving me away.

“I was happy when the scan showed it was four. Sometimes I thought of how I would carry the four of them. I have not seen somebody else who was delivered of four babies. It was not easy for me to carry the pregnancy. At a time, the weight was much for me.

“I was the one dedicating children at our church every last Sunday of the month. I was the first to visit anybody that gave birth so that I could give them what I had. I am not the envious type.

“My husband’s cousins tried to take up the matter but he silenced them. My parents were also there to encourage us. That was what kept us together because the family pressure was not there. They knew we were Christians and nobody could between my husband and me.”

A doctor at the hospital, Oni Samson, said the babies were delivered through a Caesarean section.
She said: “You don’t expect a woman that is having multiple births to do that through the normal birth. This is the first time we had a set of quadruplets in this hospital. They are okay. The ante-natal was okay. They (babies) are still under care to be stabilised.”

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Nigerian Man Sentenced To Death For Drug Trafficking

A 35 year old Nigerian man was sentenced to death today November 25th by a Malaysian High Court for trafficking in 251.66 gm of methapethamine.


Abuchi Ngwoke, was arrested in May 2012 at a Malaysian airport. He had swallowed the drugs.

Abuchi Ngwoke, 35, was found guilty by Justice Datuk Zulkifli Bakar, of committing the offence at Melaka General Hospital between 5 am on May 23 and 2.50 pm on May 25, 2012.

The judge said the defence had failed to cast any reasonable doubt on the prosecution's case.

He described Ngwoke's testimony about swallowing gemstones in Nigeria before travelling here as absurd.

Fourteen prosecution witnesses and one defence witness testified in the trial which commenced on April 28 this year.

The prosecution was represented by deputy public prosecutor Nurfarhana Ahmad and Fairuz Syuhada Amran, while Ngwoke was defended by counsel Tiu Leong Kim.

A date is yet to be set for his execution.

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Two Female suicide bombers in hijab hit Maiduguri market, kill 67

At least 67 people were feared dead and about 98 others seriously injured yesterday when two female suicide bombers hit a popular Monday market along One-Way Road, Chalarams, Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

Over 30 shops and 25 vehicles were also destroyed.

The explosion, whose sound was heard across the metropolis, occurred at about 11:11am.

It went off at a place that has huge concentration of people buying and selling.

NigerianEye gathered that the bomb was concealed in a pickup tricycle, popularly known as Jega.

"The blast happened at One-Way road that leads to Bulabulin, adjacent the Monday Market," trader Sabiu Aliyu said.

Unconfirmed report said one of the female suicide bombers was a mad woman suspected to have been used by terrorists, leaving over 16 people including the mad woman dead on the spot, while those who sustained injuries were rushed to University of Maiduguri and the State Specialists Hospital for treatment.

The incident which occurred at about 11am forced many traders, students and residents to close. The explosion occurred at a time Governor Kashim Shettima was having security meetings with security chiefs in the state.

This is the second most deadly attacks along Chalarams Road at Monday market. In 2011, some terrorists invaded the market road and killed over 10 traders.

Health worker, Dogara Shehu, said he counted more than “45 people killed, some of them completely decapitated” in the Maiduguri blasts in an account supported by another witness.

An official with National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) confirmed that “many people have been killed” but did not have an official death toll.

“What we have is a case of suicide bombings involving two females,” said a senior security source in the city, who requested anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The source told AFP that the “first bomber stood by a motorised rickshaw packed with goods in the bustling market and took a call on her mobile phone. She then dropped it (the mobile phone) and at that moment she blew herself up, so people thought the bomb was concealed in the rickshaw.

“About 10 minutes later, another woman who looked about 19 and carrying what looked like a baby on her back under hijab arrived at the scene that was crowded by rescuers and residents. She then detonated the bomb on her back.”

Witnesses’ accounts

An eye witness, who was among the lucky survivors, Mallam Ali Mohammed told Vanguard that “two female suicide bombers hit the vicinity of the busy Maiduguri market killing over 60 people.”
Another eye witness, who is a petty trader, Mallam Abba Usman said: “As I am talking to you now, we are still trying to rescue the injured and evacuate the corpses. I cannot give you a number yet but a lot of people died.”

He said it was also difficult to rescue people as the entire place has been cordoned off by the military, even as residents were asking the soldiers to leave the place as they had failed to protect lives and property in the state.

A member of the civilian JTF vigilante who does not want his name in print said that “one of the female attackers kept a parcel in one of the shops on One-way, a commercial area beside the popular Monday Market, telling the traders that she had something to pick from the market, while the package detonated few minutes later.

“And as people were still wondering what was happening and were trying to rescue the injured, another woman in the same area detonated a bomb planted on her, which claimed so many lives.
A trader, Amadi Nuhu, who spoke to our correspondent said: “They were two suicide bombers. The first detonated herself, killing many people and as people were running for their lives, the other bomber detonated her own, killing many more. I don’t know how many people were killed but about 14 Keke Napep (Jega) evacuated corpses to the specialists hospital.”

According to Nuhu, most of the traders along the axis where the suicide bombers attacked were killed in the explosion, with many more who came to the market for business.

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