Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has signed into law the amended penal code 2020 which prescribes surgical castration for a rapist upon conviction.

The development was disclosed in a statement on Wednesday by the governor’s spokesman, Muyiwa Adekeye, after the amended law was passed by the Kaduna State House of Assembly last week.

The state House of Assembly noted that with the new law, anyone convicted of rape will have his organ surgically removed so that even upon completion of his jail term, he will not be able to commit the crime again.

It added that in addition to the castration of the convicted rapist, the new law recommends 21 years imprisonment for the rape of an adult and life imprisonment for the rape of a minor.

While signing the law, El-Rufai noted that in addition, such convicts will be listed in the sex offenders register to be published by the Attorney-General of the State.

He stated that these drastic penalties are required to help further protect children from such serious crimes.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has disclosed that the company recorded an increased trading surplus of ₦20.36billion in July 2020 as against the ₦2.12billion surplus during its operations in June 2020.

The national oil company explained that the 858 per cent overall upswell in performance was not unconnected to the 178 per cent rise in the surplus posted by the corporation’s upstream entity, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC).

NNPC’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr. Kennie Obateru, said that the NPDC’s recorded sucess was bolstered by the continuous improvement in global crude oil demand for the third consecutive month.

The NNPC, through its Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR) for July 2020, said that the corporation’s fortune was further enhanced by the 739 per cent increased profit posted by the Integrated Data Services Limited (IDSL) and a 51 per cent growth in performance by Duke Oil Incorporated, both companies of NNPC.

“Returns from NNPC Retail Limited and Nigerian Gas Marketing Company (NGMC) during the period under review also grew by 28 per cent and 24 per cent respectively, owing to increased sales and improved debt collection.

“In the Gas sector, Gas production in July 2020 increased by 2.19 per cent at 236.34Billion Cubic Feet (BCF) compared to output in June 2020; translating to an average daily production of 7,623.98Million Standard Cubic Feet of gas per day (mmscfd). Likewise, the daily average natural gas supply to gas power plants stood at 707mmscfd, equivalent to power generation of 2,421MW.

“For the period July 2019 to July 2020, 3,079.64BCF of gas was produced, representing an average daily production of 7,812.11mmscfd during the period.  Period-to-date Production from Joint Ventures (JVs), Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs), and NPDC contributed about 70.88 per cent, 20.37 per cent, and 8.75 per cent respectively to the total national gas production.

“In the downstream sector, to ensure continued stability in Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) supply and effective distribution across the country, 1.02billion litres of PMS translating to 32.95mn liters/day were supplied for the month. The corporation has continued to diligently monitor the daily stock of PMS to achieve smooth distribution of petroleum products and zero fuel queue across the nation,” the report said.

Obateru said that during the 36 pipeline points were vandalized during the period under review representing about 9 per cent increase from the 33 points recorded in June 2020.

“Atlas Cove-Mosimi and Aba-Enugu network accounted for 28 per cent each, while PHC-Aba and the other locations recorded 14 per cent and the remaining 31 per cent respectively. NNPC in collaboration with the local communities and other stakeholders have continously strived to reduce the menace of pipeline vandalism,” the report added.

The Super Eagles of Nigeria have ranked 29th on the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) newly released ranking after more than six months of disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the latest ranking, the country’s football team moved up by two spots in FIFA ranking for September to place 29th and garnered 1493 points during the period under review without playing any match. 

The ranking also placed Nigeria as the third in Africa behind Senegal and Tunisia who garnered 1555 and 1506 points respectively in the ranking released on the world football governing body’s website on Thursday.

On the global scene, with the exception of Uzbekistan’s 2-1 friendly victory over Tajikistan, the countries back in action have all been European.

The successful staging of these games was nonetheless encouraging for teams from other confederations as they seek to resume international fixtures in the weeks ahead.

The 54 UEFA Nations League games which took place across Europe at the beginning of September had an immediate impact on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, which had remained unchanged since April 9.

While there had been no movement among the leading quartet in descending order: Belgium, France, Brazil, and England, Portugal (5th, up 2) have moved into the top five.

This was as a result of victories over Croatia (8th, down 2) and Sweden (18th, down 1). Other countries moving in the right direction are Spain (7th, up 1), Italy (12th, up 1), the Netherlands (13th, up 1), and Germany (14th, up 1), and each of them gained one place respectively in the global classification.

Wales (21st, up 2) climbed two rungs but remain just outside the top 20. Russia, hosts of the last FIFA World Cup, are further back in 32nd, but they had the biggest gain in this edition, ascending six places courtesy of wins over Serbia (31st, down 2) and Hungary (52nd, unchanged).

In spite of not playing, Iran (30th, up 3) moved into the top 30 after Serbia and Turkey (32nd, down 3) dropped points.

As a measure to improve directional information, the Federal Capital Territory Administration has clamped down on illegal signages which had refused to comply to rules and regulation provided by the government.

The Department of Outdoor Advertising and Signage, saddled with the responsibility of supervising signages, noted that 2,747 unwanted signages were removed and 36 new legal ones installed to enhance  easy communication.

It was gathered that the reason for dismantling  illegal signages were because;  they served as threat to security and waste in the city.

The Director, Department of Outdoor Advertising and Signage, Dr Babagana Adam, who gave the insight, explained that the new signages were installed to ensure standardisation and environmental protection.

Briefing newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja, Adam disclosed that FCT as a nation’s capital need to meet up with international standards, as such would not tolerate individuals to liter and disorganise the capital city with illegal signages.

He said the department is not against anyone’s progress but for development purpose and to make sure that the right things are put in place for the good of everyone.

Meanwhile, the director revealed that the department was able to generate N500 million in six months against what was raised in three years.

“When I assumed office,  the revenue generated in three years, 2016, 2017 and 2018 was just N333 million, but within my first six months or less, I was able to generate about N500 million.

”This shows that the potential of FCT generating revenue is massive and impressive,” he added.

Adam appealed to co-operate bodies and relevant stakeholders to support the department in its quest to ensure sanity in FCT, stressing that the 36 signage installed so far have generated about 50,000 jobs for residents.