An Upper Area Court sitting in Kasuwan Nama in Jos on Monday, sentenced a 60-year old cashier, Yakubu Mekodo to 15 years’ imprisonment for embezzling N9. 1 million.

The Judge, Lawal Suleiman, sentenced Mekodo, following his guilty plea to embezzlement charge.

Suleiman, however, gave the convict an option to pay a fine of N150,000 or spend five years in prison.

He also ordered the convict to paid N8.5 million as compensation or spend another 10 years in prison.

The judge said the punishment would serve as deterrent to others.

Earlier, the prosecution counsel, Monday Dabit told the court that the case was reported at the Nigeria Police Area Command office in Jos on January 6 2015 by one Azuatalam Osigwe of Vital Foam Jos, the complainant.

Dabit said that the convict in a confessional statement, said he used part of the money to buy two cars and other personal things.

The offense, he said, contravened the provisions of sections 322 and 309 of the Penal Code law.

Nigerian resident doctors in state-run hospitals began an indefinite strike on Monday to demand a pay rise, better welfare and adequate facilities.

The industrial action by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), which represents some 40 per cent of doctors, is the latest in a string of stoppages by medics to hit Nigeria.

NARD president, Aliyu Sokomba announced the commencement of the strike, adding that medics treating virus cases would join the action this time around.

Sokomba said long-standing issues such as provision of life insurance, a pay rise, payment of salary arrears as well as provision of adequate facilities for doctors were the reasons for the strike.

Recall that in June, NARD staged a week-long strike over welfare and inadequate protective kits but doctors treating virus cases remained on the job.

The Egyptian Government has disclosed that the country’s archaeological team has discovered a collection of more than 13 intact sealed coffins, dating back to 2,500 years ago.

As stated, the coffins, along with three sealed niches, were unearthed inside an 11-meter-deep shaft were found at an archaeological site in Saqqara necropolis in Giza.

The Egyptian’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Khaled al-Anany, said that the discovery was part of the nation’s continuous excavation exercise to discover ancient art and antiques for history and reference purposes.

The Minister who visited the site alongside the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), Mostafa Waziri, on Sunday, according to a statement by the ministry, said that the team of archaeologists were working assiduously at the shaft to uncover more.

According to him, the new discovery was coming after the discovery of 30 ancient coffins in October 2019 at Asasif cemetery in Upper Egypt’s Luxor Province.

“The discovery marks the largest number of coffins found in one burial place since the discovery of the Asasif Cachette,’’ the statement quoted him as saying.

Addressing newsmen during their visit, Waziri said that the exact number of the unearthed coffins, as well as the identity and titles of their owners, have not yet been determined.

The SCA boss, who leads the Egyptian archaeological mission in Saqqara, however, assured that details of the coffins and owners identity would be revealed in days to come.

“The discovery in Saqqara includes a wonderful collection of coloured wooden coffins whose colours and inscriptions are still in good condition despite the passage of 2,500 years.

“The mission continues excavation work on the site and it is expected to result in many other new discoveries of shafts, coloured wooden coffins and statues,’’ the SCA chief added.

The statement, however, added that the coffins were completely sealed and have not been opened since they were buried inside the shaft.

The Federal Government has disclosed that the recent hike in pump price of premium motor spirit, better known as petrol, and increase in electricity tariffs were borne out of necessity and that plans are underway to regulate marketers and industry players of both sectors to ensure citizens were not ripped off through arbitrary prices.

As stated, the increase had become imperative after the outbreak of coronavirus which affected the country’s economic fortune and necessitated the review of the 2020 budget to reflect the country’s current reality.

The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, said that the increase, particularly that of petroleum was a result of the apex government deregulation initiative which ended the subsidy regime and that the fluctuating pump price was subjected to global prices of oil.

Addressing participants during the First Year Ministerial Performance Review Retreat on Monday in Abuja, Osinbajo admitted that the country could not continue with subsidizing petroleum for the citizens and the financial burden was taken a toll on the country’s earning and taxpayers money.

According to him, the citizens would have to endure the inconveniences as part of measures to augment the government’s effort in repositioning the country’s for greater efficiency by eliminating all loopholes of systemic corruption.

The Vice President revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration was not considering returning to the subsidy regime, saying the country could not afford to subsidize petroleum for Nigerians and that petroleum subsidy was not budgeted for in the review 2020 budget.

He noted that the apex government would, however, ensure that marketers in both the oil and electricity sector are regulated to not exceed the global acceptable standard in prices of both petroleum and electricity.

Details shortly…

The Japanese Government has disclosed plans to acquire long-range standoff missiles to protect the country particularly the citizens from external invaders.

It said that the acquisition was part of the medium-term defense buildup program expected to elapse after four years, 2019-2023, in the country.

The standoff missiles acquisition plan, which was disclosed through a statement made available to newsmen yesterday by the country defense ministry, stated that the missile had a range of about 500 kilometers that can attack a target from outside the ranges of enemy missiles, including in the defense of remote islands,

It was gathered that the standoff missiles, expected to have the longest range among all forms of the current firepower of the Self-Defense Forces, when acquired through the country’s defense ministry, would be mounted on F-35 cutting-edge stealth fighters,

Since scrapping its plan to deploy Aegis Ashore land-based interceptor missile batteries earlier this year, the government has to hold active discussions on deterrent force to block attacks with ballistic missiles, including the acquisition of capability to strike enemy bases.

If Japan decides to possess such capability, standoff missiles could be used to strike radar sites or other missile-related facilities of enemy states.

The Nigeria Postal Services (NIPOST) is set to open 10,000 smart offices across the country in a bid to make post offices a one-stop-shop for diverse economic transactions and overcome the challenges faced as a result of the erosion of the letter-writing culture in line with the Federal Government’s digital economy policy.

The Postmaster General of the Federation, Dr Ismail Adewusi, made this known at the weekend at the General Post Office Complex, Dugbe in Ibadan, while inspecting facilities of the agency in Oyo State, adding that plans are underway to embrace technological development to give the best service to people in the country.

He explained that with technical advancement across the globe putting the letter-writing culture out of vogue, the postal services had initiated creative business methodologies to maintain its relevance by going back to its previous activities which include economic service delivery like a money order.

“We want to be a one-stop outfit where you can do many transactions like collection of your international passport, driving license, capture your National Identity Card images; all these are the E-governance platforms that we are developing. We want to run a smart outlet post office services. It would not be big but you will be able to do all your transactions.

“We are going to use a new technology platform. Presently, we have the license to do international cash transfer. The citizens would be able to do their online transactions at our smart outlets in pursuit of the digital economy policy of the Federal Government. With about 13,000 staff in the 3,000 outlets across the country, we are equipped to give seamless service delivery; no staff of NIPOST is idle or underutilised. If need be, we will hire more staff for our operations but we are starting with what we have and will later expand the frontiers of employment,” he said.

According to the Post Master General, things have been difficult for postal service centres across the country especially at this period where lockdown is just easing in the country and many countries of the world.

“After the pandemic, things have been very difficult for the postal services sector, it is not the sector alone that is affected; it is a global problem. During the lockdown, we could not move our mails. That impacted negatively on our revenue. The Nigerian airspace is yet to be opened and this impacted negatively on our operations.

“Mails are reducing as people no longer send letters. The reform is in place to ensure that NIPOST is commercially run as a viable business entity. NIPOST Properties and Development Company Limited as well as NIPOST Transport Company and Logistics Limited are already registered. We have a plan for a NIPOST microfinance bank to be run with branches in all our agencies across Nigeria. All of these are new initiatives that we are pursuing.

“Now, we don’t have enough postal outlets. The ones that we have now were designed several years ago. In Ibadan, we have about eight post offices. Ibadan is so large that we need to take our services down to the grassroots where it is needed. Definitely, when we set up those smart offices, working with the private sector of course, we are going to have more than 10,000 outlets all over Nigeria. We have about 3,000 outlets all over Nigeria already,” he said.

Source: Nigeria Tribune

After months of closure introduced to curb coronavirus spread, the Lagos State Government has approved reopening of recreational parks in the state for public use, a move said to be part of process aimed at phased return to normalcy.

It explains that plans are being concluded and necessary measures were already put in place to ensure safe reopening of the parks on September 1st for fun-seekers and halt possible person-to-person transmission.

The General Manager, Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency ( LASPARK), Adetoun Popoola, said that though public recreational parks in various parts of the state are still being assessed for re-opening, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has given approval for reopening of two parks for public use.

Through a statement released to newsmen by the agency’s Assistant Director Public Affairs, Ajirotutu Titilayo, Popoola revealed that the two parks currently re-opened for public use are the Ndubuisi Kanu Park (NKP) in Alausa and Dr. Abayomi Finnih Park (DPF) in Oregun Ikeja.

She added that the government has restricted occupancy limits of the parks to 150 people for Ndubuisi Kanu Park (NKP) and 100 people for Dr. Abayomi Finnih park (DFP) respectively.

The LASPARK boss, however, enjoined fun seekers and other members of the public to observe social distancing, among other safety measures advised by health experts in mitigating spread of the deadly respiratory disease.

“The agency has made necessary arrangements and put in place relevant safety protocols for the public to visit our parks. The strict observance of these guidelines including physical distancing, use of face masks, temperature checks, and washing of hands with soap and running water is germane to reduce the risk of exposure to the virus.

“It is also pertinent to mention that children below 5 and Adults over 65years of age are advised to stay home to reduce their risk of infection. All play items and games which have high touch surfaces will also not be operational for now at the parks,” the statement said.

In a bid to ensure accountability and transparency, the Federal Government has released details of how N31billion donations received was spent on emergency response to prevent further spread of coronavirus in Nigeria.

It said that N31 billion of the total funds, N36.3 billion, were released in four months to federal and state governments agencies to curb community transmission of the novel virus in the country.

The apex government stated that the N36.3 billion received as COVID-19 palliatives were donations from private organisations and other sources including religious organisations and politicians, and that the effort was designed to get Nigeria out of coronavirus ravaged countries.

Details on the spending was made public through a letter sent by the Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, to Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and Connected Development (CODE), responding to the organisation request for details on COVID-19 spending.

In the letter made public by SERAP, Ahmed said that the apex government spent N30,540,563,571.09 of the total funds, representing 84 percent of the total money gotten from donations.

He explained that the released details were in response to the Freedom of Information request sent to his office by SERAP and CODE.

“The Federal Government spent N30,540,563,571.09, representing 84% of the N36.3 billion public funds and donations received to respond to COVID-19 between 1st April 2020 and 31st July 2020, leaving the balance of N5.9 billion,” Idris said.

SERAP, not satisfied with the terse details, said that the documents received by the organization from the government do not contain other significant details, including detailed breakdown of the number of Nigerians who directly or indirectly benefited from the spending, and details on plans to spend the balance of N5.9 billion in the COVID-19 Eradication Support Accounts.

The organisation through a reply signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, and CODE Chief Executive, Hamzat Lawal, and sent to the Finance ministry which was made available to The Guild, said that though the government action was commendable, more information was needed on the spending for accountability sake.

“We welcome your demonstrated commitment to transparency and accountability and hope other public officials and institutions would emulate and learn from the good example you have shown by honouring and respecting FoI Act as a matter of routine and practice.

“We would therefore be grateful to receive more specific details and additional information on the spending of N34.4bn between April and July, and details on plans to spend the balance of the balance of N5.9 billion in the COVID-19 Eradication Support Accounts.”

“We would be grateful if the requested details and additional information are provided to us within 7 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP and CODE shall take all appropriate legal actions under the Freedom of Information Act and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights to compel you to comply with our request,” the organizations said.