IGP hails Air Peace chairman for building a police station

Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris has commended Air Peace Chairman, Chief Allen Onyema for building Uli Police Station in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State.
Speaking during the commissioning of the project at the weekend, the IGP urged other well-to-do Nigerians to emulate Onyema’sgenerosity and effort to ensure security and peace in the country through his Foundation for Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria (FEHN).
Meanwhile, Onyema has said he embarked on construction of the police station outside his Mbosi community because he was convinced that all Nigerians must support the Federal Government to set up a motivated, efficient and effective police force.
Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Sam Okaula, who represented the IGP at the commissioning, said: “Security is everybody’s business. We need to collaborate and cooperate. We need to synergise so that we can create an enabling environment for peace to reign. Government cannot do it all alone. Those God has blessed should contribute towards the establishment of the enabling environment for providing security for the people. And that is exactly what Onyema has done. I am overwhelmed that this is happening.
“The IGP has directed me to appreciate the role that Chief Onyema is playing in our society. The peace we are having through the Amnesty Programme was what Onyema did. We want to urge the sons and daughters of this great land to borrow a leaf from this wonderful man.
“He has touched so many lives across the length and breadth of this country. When he was to set up Air Peace, I was one of those who discouraged him because of what it takes to run an airline in this country, but he told me he loves to empower people and that he was not in it to make profit but to empower people and touch lives.”
Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Uli Police Station, CSP OdionEkeindealso commended the Air Peace boss for heeding his call to build a befitting facility for the police to operate in the area. The DPO praised the donor’s father, Chief Michael Onyema for facilitating his access to the Air Peace boss and for visiting the site twice to inspect the project while under construction.
For his part, the Air Peace chairman said he was motivated to embark on the construction of the facility when he was told that security at the police station had become porous.Onyema said he was also responsible for the fencing of the police station about seven years ago.
He urged Nigerians to support the government in providing security in the country, insisting that police personnel were working under very difficult conditions.

#Impact365: Wana Udobang has raised over N3 million for cancer, and she is still on the march

1k4cancer initiative, founded by popular media personality and writer, Wana Udobang, has raised over 3 million naira to assist cancer stricken women from low income homes.

Udobang, a youth mentor and public speaker, is also producer of the documentary film Sensitive Skin which highlights the effects of the skin condition Psoriasis. She is also the host of Airtel Touching Lives, a programme that tells the story of people living through difficulties.

In this interview with YNaija, she talks about the 1k4cancer initiative as well as her other charitable activities.

1. Your initiative 1k4cancer has raised over N3 million in the last few years. Could you tell us more about the initiative?

It was a campaign to help raise money for women under the care of Sebeccly Cancer Care and Support Centre with their cancer treatment. Most of the women were from very low income households. I initially started it to raise funds for a particular lady called Veronica who needed funds for her treatment but couldn’t afford it. The idea was to get everyday Nigerians to help by donating at least a thousand Naira. We luckily exceeded our expectations that first year but I must admit as the years went by it got a little difficult. People also experience donor fatigue and there needed to be more sustainable ways to keep raising funds.

2. Have you achieved the goal for which you originally founded the initiative?

I think you always want to do more and that’s the truth. As long as more women are diagnosed with breast cancer and can’t afford their treatment then you never really reach your goal. But the project is sort of on a hiatus at the moment in terms of my active participation as it does take quite a lot of time and an emotional toll as well. Plus fundraising isn’t the easiest thing to do. But I am grateful for what it has achieved and the people it has been able to help and I hope we can continue to do more despite the fact that life gives us only 24hrs in a day.

3. Using the arts and media, you have worked to create awareness and tell alternative stories about victims and vulnerable persons in the society. How has the reception been? Are you fulfilled ?

I think telling underreported stories has given me a great sense of purpose. I don’t know that I ever feel fulfilled because I constantly feel like there is more to do. In terms of reception, certainly I think I have been very fortunate as people do pay attention whether it is with Airtel Touching Lives or with my journalism or when i worked on the radio. I think what does make me feel fulfilled is the fact that people care enough to ask what can we do? How can I help? And that is a really big deal because this is the real reason I create work or try to be part of the story telling process. Knowing that people can be pushed to be empathetic enough to want to get up and do something about certain situations going on around them.

4. You are an unapologetic plus sized woman, do you see yourself as a role model to young girls who are having a hard time coming to terms with their body?

I think role model is such a strong word and I am quite weary of pedestals because it’s like setting yourself up for scrutiny and unattainable expectations. I just see myself as a person discovering the best ways to live my life and be happy. If people see something to draw strength from in that, then it is certainly a good thing and I am thankful for the opportunity, which I don’t take for granted. I think we all need someone that looks like us and has experienced the things we have so we feel less alone.

This goes for everyone regardless of body size. But I would say that my ethos is about living the best life possible and being the best you can be regardless of societal constructions of what look, size, figure or skin tone is socially acceptable. For me the focus remains on striving for a healthy body, mind and spirit as well as discovering your greater worth and value. Hopefully we can all use those aspects of ourselves to impact the lives of those around us and our communities as well. But body issues are also a part of growing pains and how you scale through them and discover your own authenticity is a great character builder I find. You just don’t let those things define you.

5. If you could advice your younger self now, what would you say? 

Don’t worry too much. Everything will be alright so stay present and enjoy every phase you are in and most of all celebrate the little things.

6. You are involved in several social projects, what motivates and keeps you going?

I know it sounds so cliché but I am strongly motivated by the power of change and transformation. When I was at university my tutor sent me an email just before my graduation telling me that I had a voice and I must use it. That statement has always hovered above me with a certain sense of obligation however exhausted I get.

I am motivated by change in the most subtle of ways and the grandest ways as well. From its ability to start conversations, getting us to pay attention, reminding us about empathy, teaching us to see a different point of view to those life changing transformations like statutory changes or seeing justice served. I also enjoy the things I am a part of so I suppose that helps to keep me going.

Crimes of recession? Rising ritual killings, kidnapping, armed robbery

SUSPECTED CULTISTS—Suspected cult

 members paraded by the Second Brigade of 

Nigerian Army in Port Harcourt, Rivers State,

 yesterday. Photo: NAN.

 The situation appears worse with the current economic recession in the country. Nigeria’s  economy has slipped into recession and inflation is already at an eleven-year high of 16.5 per cent.  Nigerians are bearing the brunt. Hunger is ravaging the land Not long ago,  Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said that about 110 million Nigerians were still living below poverty line despite the policies of past governments to improve their welfare. The Vice President stated that the policies were wrongly formulated and, as a result, did not have direct impact on the people”, he said. “This is the main challenge. When you look at the economic and social policies, and you look at the level of illiteracy in parts of the country, some are extremely bad and some with cases of about 80% or 90% of children out of school, and other cases of unimaginable decayed infrastructure. “Governments have not been accountable to the people, otherwise policies should have roots in the real conditions of the people.”  Osinbajo pointed out that some past planning, policy formulation and budgets were not accountable to the people, stressing that, in the past, there have been “policies that don’t seem to have solutions that truly reflect the understanding of the question of poverty in Nigeria.” An estimated 60 million unemployed persons, representing nearly one-third of the country’s   population, are seriously endangered. This situation makes mockery of Nigeria’s so-called vision of becoming one of the 20 leading economies in the world by the year 2020, and also threatens national security . The nation seems to be sitting on a keg of gunpowder likely to explode at any time with devastating consequences. The unemployment situation is worsening  as thousands of graduates are  churned out from tertiary institutions yearly to besiege those already hopelessly waiting for employment and roaming our streets searching for means of earning a living. Graduates are piling upon graduates and this mortgages the nation’s future. The enormity of unemployment challenge which has become a colossal one – a socio-economic affliction of great proportions – can be illustrated most vividly when, a couple of years back, out of the 13,000 applications received by the Dangote Group of Companies for Graduate Executive Truck Drivers, there were six Ph.D, 704 masters and over 8,460 bachelor degree holders. Most astonishing was the fact that the company only needed 100 drivers but got 13,000 applications, most of them from reputable universities. The Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity said more than 41% of Nigerian graduates are without employment after the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). The National Bureau of Statistics said over 50% of youths in Nigeria are jobless, while the World Bank put the figure at 56%. Considering the country’s estimated population of about 167 million and 60 million jobless, these are grim figures portending danger to economic growth and development of a nation with the largest concentration of black people on earth. Sylvia, a graduate of banking and finance, said she did her mandatory NYSC in 2006 and now, ten years after, she has not gotten a job. “This is distressing. I have done all kinds of odd jobs and, currently, I’m a housekeeper somewhere.It is painful because my parents trained me hoping that I will help out with family and that has not happened.” In its recent travel advisory, the American government cautioned its citizens not to travel to visit 20 states in Nigeria, citing armed robbery, kidnapping and terrorism, among others, as reasons for the advice. But Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, dismissed the US government’s claim when he received a delegation from the Association of Tourism Practitioners of Nigeria in Abuja, saying every state in the country was safe.. Only recently, popular Enugu Catholic priest, Rev. Father Ejike Mbaka, who runs the Adoration Ministries in the eastern capital, Enugu, sent a strong message to President Muhammadu Buhari through a sermon.  Mbaka criticized the Buhari administration for the economic hardship in Nigeria and warned the president that Nigerians may vote him out in the next presidential election. The fiery cleric, who became controversially famous after his prediction that former President Goodluck Jonathan would be swept away by the wind of change in the last presidential election, criticised  Buhari for the economic hardship sweeping the country resulting from what he defined as poor leadership under the APC-led government. The Catholic priest said that the president should know that Nigerians may vote him out in the next  election, adding that people are clearly getting tired, continuing that he campaigned against Jonathan because of the extensive corruption in the last administration in the hope that Buhari’s government would be better after his avowed declaration to fight corruption. “No nation could survive when the cankerworm of corruption eats deep into its social fabric as was witnessed in the past administration which informed his interest and desire to opt for a change”, he said. “The change which eventually came under the leadership of Buhari is not helping matters as poverty is ‘smelling’ in Nigeria.  There is hunger everywhere. Landlords are crying; tenants are lamenting, sellers are crying, buyers are lamenting – there is hunger on the streets. I can’t keep quiet when things are going wrong. “I am telling the president to look around him and know those who are advising him rightly and those who are telling him that there is no trouble. The president should know that there is trouble. If things continue like this, in the next election, nobody will vote for him.” The senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, toed a similar line. Sani lamented that Nigerians are groaning under serious hunger and poverty and, therefore, unable to meet their basic needs. Speaking during the launch of his interactive forum in Nasarawa, a suburb of Kaduna metropolis, tagged, ‘Street Parliament’ he said: “We know that Nigerians are facing hunger, no money for school fees and no jobs”. Adding his voice, a former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Prince Bola Ajibola (SAN), said   that the hardship the nation and its people are currently experiencing were both the consequences of past wrong actions and efforts of corrupt people who would do anything to make sure that the president did not succeed.   He said  Buhari’s anti-corruption was so hard on the corrupt people so much that it went after their ill-businesses  in Nigeria and abroad and that the hardship thrown upon Nigerians because of their control was to prove to the world that taming the corruption in where they had thrived for long to the detriment of the masses of the Nigerian people was a no-go area. He said, “For a long time, we had run our economy by only the oil.   When the oil is in trouble internationally, automatically our economy would be in trouble at home in Nigeria.   The best way to go is diversification which the government is doing.   But will Nigerians give him the chance to do these things successfully? “Yes, things are hard.   Even a former Commonwealth Secretary-General told me that things are very hard and I know too that things are very hard.   But these are expected if we must get things in proper perspective.” Setting the stage for crime Indeed poverty in Nigeria, like in most developing nations of Africa, is widespread and seems to be on the increase. When poverty joins high levels of economic and social aspirations, the stage is set for criminal activities – particularly official corruption, ritual killings, robbery and dealing in illegal goods and services. People who are thwarted in attaining desired social and economic goals legally may seek to obtain them illegally. Psychologically , aggression is always a consequence of frustration while frustration  leads to some form of aggression. The poor are led to violence owing to their relative deprivation and needs. This scenario agrees significantly with the current security situation in Nigeria. Perhaps, the greatest challenge facing the  economy is unemployment which has maintained rising trend over the years. The total labour force in Nigeria is made up of all persons aged 15-64years excluding students, home keepers, retired persons or those who stay at home and work or are not interested. The unemployed are people who are willing and capable but are unable to find suitable paid employment. The classical school of thought that provided the earliest thinking on economic issues did not fail to give a central point of reflection on the undesirability of unemployment. The youths who are being churned out of the university yearly without any job are getting frustrated. Many of these young people are duped in the quest to get employed. John Mark, 28, said he was duped by a woman who promised to help him get a job with the Nigeria Customs Service. “I have been jobless for years after graduating from the university. I am the first son of my father and my mother died years ago. I am like a mother to my siblings and my dad is old and retired. For eight years now, I don’t have a job. I have attended several job interviews without luck. They require experience but how do I get get experience without job?”, Mark narrated. “So, when this girl I was dating introduced me to her aunt who seems highly connected and she promised to get me a job with the Customs, I was exhilarated. She said I needed to deposit N200,000 and I went to borrow the money which I gave her.  It’s been story-story ever since. I don’t know what to do, whether to call the police on her or not.” Everyday in Nigeria, police stations are inundated with reports of all manner of crimes involving fraudsters, missing persons many of whom end up in the hands of ritualists, etc. Less than 10 percent of such missing persons return home. A scary percentage of them are not found and the bodies of a negligible number that are eventually seen, are dumped either on the roadsides, bush paths or inside gutters, mutilated and their vital organs removed. Cictims of these evil doers often times board  the wrong commercial bus or taxi. Many family members have been reported to have hacked one of their own to death for rituals. Setting the  stage for ritual killings Almost on a daily basis, newspapers are awash with stories of ritual killings. In many cities across Nigeria, there exist evil forests where suspected ritualists dismember their victims, leaving behind  human parts . Usually,  victims are taken to the forests and butchered for money rituals. Victims A recent case is Saka forest in Ibadan.  On  February 20,   29-year-old  Sunday  Abudioke was pronounced dead at Ekiti State Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti, following   an attack by suspected cultists along Ado-Ilawe road. On February 28, another victim, Sunday  Afolabi, was confirmed dead after an attack by men suspected to be cultists   at  Irona, Ado-Ekiti.  Afolabi was hacked to death in his room while his heavily pregnant wife was away to attend a ‘night vigil’ at a nearby church. Researchers’ view In 2013,  findings by the leadership of  International Society for Civil Liberties& the Rule of Law  showed that over 1000 citizens were murdered in Nigeria between January 1 and April 30, 2013. Their killings were traced to lawfully and unlawfully armed malicious elements within and outside the country’s security forces including the malicious personnel of the Nigeria Police, Joint Military Task Forces, Multi-national Joint Task Force; militant ethno-religious zealots such as Boko Haram armed Islamists/ malicious elements and other criminal elements such as deadly politicians and resurged armed Niger Delta militants. The  casualty figures will be grossly under-calculated if unreported cases arising from killings by armed robbers, kidnappers, ritual deaths and civil homicides are added. If attempts are made to capture all these, then it may most likely be correct to estimate figures today in the neighbourhood of over 4000 murdered deaths since January 2013. For instance, in the past one year in Lagos, it was reported by the state Police Command that a total of 270 civilians and 32 police personnel were murdered in the state. Buhari’s promise Meanwhile, Buhari has reiterated that his government  is poised to break all economic barriers and set Nigeria free from poverty. According to him, although some Nigerians had become disoriented and impatient,  the plan to diversify the economy is still very much on the cards. The president added that th diversification of the economy has become much more than just a slogan as it  has become  a necessity.  He said his government plans to  use agriculture to save foreign exchange and pull many out of poverty and that his administration will continue to make substantial investments in human capital development. He said economic growth cannot just be for the lucky few at the top, it has to be broad-based, for every Nigerian citizen, and a good place to start is with the agricultural sector. He said the country is facing the  challenges of  tackling insecurity, creating jobs, addressing the country’s balance of payments and stimulating and sustaining national economic recovery, the injustice of hunger and the need for long-term food security.

Cult activities, kidnapping and robbery are beginning to gain grounds in Nigeria. Killing and maiming of innocent people have continued unabatedly across the states. Research reveals that scores of young men and women lose their lives daily to ritualists, kidnappers and other criminals. The social media and newspapers are replete with scary stories of crime of various dimensions being committed across Nigeria.

Man sentenced to five years in prison for killing son

A Belgian expatriate was sentenced to five years’ jail in Singapore on Monday for killing his five-year-old son last year while suffering from severe depression during a child custody battle.

Philippe Graffart, 42, was sentenced on a reduced charge of culpable homicide instead of murder, after psychiatric findings showed he had “diminished responsibility” for suffocating his son Keryan with a pillow in their apartment.

Murder is punishable by hanging in Singapore.

Judicial Commissioner Hoo Sheau Peng said she took into consideration the grievous nature of the offence, the fact that it had been committed against a vulnerable child, and the fact that the offender was the child’s own parent.

“This sentence is necessary to show that the accused’s actions are not to be condoned,” Hoo said.

For culpable homicide without the intention of causing death, Graffart could have been jailed up to 10 years, caned and fined — or any combination of the three penalties.

Graffart looked impassive when his sentence was read out, staring straight ahead at the judge.

Representatives from the French and Belgian embassies were present during the High Court hearing, as well as two of Graffart’s former colleagues who briefly spoke to him before he was taken away to serve his sentence.

His Singaporean lawyer Ramesh Tiwary told AFP after the session that Keryan’s death is something Graffart “will have to live with for the rest of his life.”

Court documents showed Graffart was locked in a bitter custody battle over Keryan with his estranged French wife Gwendoline when he smothered the boy with a cushion after giving him a sedative on October 5, 2015.

After the killing he unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide by crashing his car before giving himself up to police.

The family had moved to Singapore from Luxembourg in September 2013 after Graffart, a financial executive, was transferred by his employer, European firm Nordea Investment Management.

Their marriage broke down early the following year.

At about lunchtime on October 5, 2015, Graffart was told about a development in his custody suit which left him distraught, court documents said.

That evening Graffart put Keryan to bed and prepared two sleeping pills for himself, but gave them to his son instead.

When the boy was asleep, Graffart placed a cushion over his son’s head until he stopped moving.

After kissing his son goodbye, Graffart went on a drive and crashed his car on purpose on a highway after unbuckling his seatbelt. But the safety airbags saved his life.

He woke up in a hospital but left it in the small hours of October 6, when he showed up at a police station with injuries from the car crash and confessed to the crime.

Gleaned: AFP

Agency to sanction environmental law defaulters in Kebbi

The Kebbi Urban Development Authority (KUDA) has vowed to sanction defaulters of environmental laws in the state.

The General Manager of the authority, Alhaji Malami Muhammad, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Birnin Kebbi on Monday that the authority would no longer condone unhygienic attitude of residents.

He said that the body would commence sanctioning of those involved in indiscriminate dumping of refuse in drains and other bad sanitation habits.

“In conjunction with a magistrate court, we will be sanctioning anyone involved in unhealthy practices, as well as those who pay deaf ears to our sensitization campaigns on the effect of dumping refuse in drains.

“Many lives were lost in the past as a result of flooding which was attributed to indiscriminate dumping of refuse in drains and waterways,” Muhammad said.

The general manager added that the authority had been sensitising residents to avoid habits that would lead to flood and endanger people’s lives.

According to him, the authority is evacuating refuse and clearing drainage in flood prone areas within Birnin Kebbi metropolis and other major towns in the state, as part of measures to reduce the risk of flooding in the state.

He however lamented that some residents have continued to erect structures along waterways, thereby exposing people to danger.

“People should consult the authority concerned before embarking on erection of any structure to avoid destruction of households and property as recorded in the past,” he said.

Muhammad stressed that the authority would continue to collaborate with the media to enlighten the public on the importance of environmental protection.

The general manager commended the efforts of traditional rulers in encouraging their subjects to clean their environment.

He called on the general public to report to the authority, any un-cleared drains and refuse dumps in the state, for prompt evacuation.