NIGERIA ACQUIRES TWO HELICOPTERS FROM RUSSIA TO FIGHT TERRORISTS.

The Nigerian Airforce says it has acquired two Mi-35M attack helicopter from Russia to fight terrorists and criminal gangs.

The Mi-35M is a rugged helicopter that offers round the clock combat use of guided and unguided weapons in regular and challenging climate conditions which is equipped with the latest navigation suite, target sights system, laser range finder and location finder.

“The aircraft have already been delivered awaiting official induction after which they will be launched for operations,” the Chief of Air Staff, Sadique Abubakar, said at a media briefing in Abuja on Friday.

He said the Air Force has also installed camera on a Beechcraft aircraft NAF 202 and NAF 204, and upgraded the camera on NAF 201 all in 2016.

“Furthermore, 3x EC-135 helicopters were handed over to the NAF by NNPC in March 2016. In collaboration with Aero-contractors Nigeria Ltd, 2 of the helicopters were reactivated.

“These included NAF 547 and NAF 548. Efforts are also on-going to carry out PDM/reactivation of 2x Mi-35P helicopters NAF 530 and NAF 531,” he said.

The Air force has also recently inducted four new Super Mushshak Trainer Aircraft, which were acquired from Pakistan.

Trainings
The Air Force also said it spent over N25 billion to train pilots in 2016. The pilots were trained both locally and outside Nigeria.
The Chief of Operations of the Force, Isiaka Amao, an Air Vice Marshal, who made the main presentation said the training activities of the Airforce in 2016 placed more emphasis on “pilots, engineers, technician and regiment personnel”.

“The NAF in 2016 trained 869 of its personnel overseas including 101 pilots and 357 engineers and technicians, while 4,868 were trained locally including 131 pilots and 643 engineers and technicians,” he said.

Throwing more light later, the Chief of Training and Operations, Ahmed Iya, also an Air Vice Marshal, said the Airforce spends “between $600,000 to $700,000 to train Pilots overseas while about $60,000 to $70,000 is spent to train Pilots locally”.
At official rate of N305 to the dollar, the force spent some N25. 7 billion on the pilot trainings.

The Air Chief said 14 Pilots recently graduated and joined the pool of fighter pilots within the service adding “presently more Pilots are training in Ilorin, Jordan and with the Egyptian Airforce”.

The Air force Chief also said “a total of 6,000 hrs was flown by NAF platforms translating to Jet A-1 fuel consumption of 10,525,945 liters”. He said despite this extensive employment of air power, “the casualty figures of own troops were minimal due to the professionalism displayed by NAF pilots”.
He however, failed to give the exact figure of the total casualty.

New Command
Mr. Abubakar, Air Marshal, said due to the additional responsibilities that the Air Force is facing as it supports other forces in the various operations within the country, a new command was established in Bauchi state.

He said the Fifth Command has already taken off while nine units under the Command were equally established.
He said the Service had to intervene in providing infrastructure at the newly established units.

“Some of these units are HQ SOC Bauchi, Forward Operation Base (FOB), Katsina, Quick Response Wing Daura, 201 Composite Group, Bauchi, and Quick Response Groups, Owerri and Gusau.

“Contracts for construction of Group HQ building, officers and joint airmen Mess, residential accommodation for officers and airmen as well as provision of water and electricity have been awarded for development of FOB Katsina and QR Wing Daura,” he said.

He added that the development of 201 Composite Group is at advanced completion stage with nearly all the residential accommodation blocks, apron, fire bay parade ground and other facilities as well as provision of electricity, water and access road in place.

“Additionally, a 60-bedded reference hospital has been constructed and awaiting commissioning. Contracts for the extension of apron and construction of taxiways and access road to operational area have also been awarded,” he said.

On the recent accident of one of the Helicopters given to the service by President Muhammadu Buhari, the Chief of Training and Operations said the Service is unable to give update to the Nigerian public because investigation is ongoing.
The helicopter crashed in Makurdi Benue state with no casualty.

The Air Force Chief said the Cockpit Voice recorder has been returned to the manufacturer to help the service extract the relevant data for analysis.

Isaac Nobenz

SECURITY OPERATIVES RAID HOUSE BELONGING TO GOODLUCK JONATHAN'S BROTHER-IN-LAW IN ABUJA.

Security operatives, Wednesday evening, laid siege to an Abuja house belonging to a brother-in-law to Nigeria’s former president Goodluck Jonathan, sources close to the former leader confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES.




The house is located in Maitama, one of the enclaves of Nigeria’s rich in Abuja.
The spokespersons for the headquarters and Abuja command of the police said they were not aware of the operation, but security sources confirmed that police officers in uniform carried out the raid.

According to our sources, the operatives searched all the rooms in the house.
The house was allegedly bought for her brother by Patience Jonathan, who was said to be in Port Harcourt when the raid occurred on Wednesday.

Although Mrs. Jonathan has been having a running battle with the anti-graft agency, EFCC, over the ownership of a controversial $15 million, sources at the commission said the EFCC did not carry out the raid.

More details to follow…


Source: Premium Times

EFCC ARRAIGNS PERMANENT SECRETARY OF KATSINA STATE FOR FRAUD

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission today January 3, 2017 arraigned one Sule Yusuf Saulawa, a parmanent secretary formally attached to the office of the Deputy Governor of Katsina State before Honourable Justice Sanusi Tukur of the Katsina High Court on a one count charge of Obtaining by False Pretense contrary to section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006.

The accused person who is a permanent secretary in Katsina but currently without portfolio allegedly obtained the sum of N2,500,000 ( Two Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira Only) while he was attached to the office of the Deputy Governor of Katsina State from the complainant under the pretext that the then Deputy Governor's office would award the complainant a contract for the supply of fertilizer to all the Local Government areas in Katsina State. 

Saulawa obtained the money under the guise that it is for the purchase of bidding documents. It was further alleged that after obtaining the money from the complainant, the accused person cut contact with the complainant.

Investigation into the alleged fraud by the EFCC revealed through one Kabiru Dan-Asali who disclosed in his statement that he was present at the time the complainant, Musa Baba gave one Nasiru who is a boy to the complainant, the sum of N2,500,000 ( Two Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira Only) on behalf of the accused person. The accused person also confirmed this in his voluntary statement he made to the EFCC.

Despite all this, the accused person pleaded not guilty to the charge when it was read to him in court.

In view of his plea, prosecution counsel, Sa'ad Hanafi Sa'ad requested the court for trial date and also asked that the accused person be remanded in prison custody. However, cousel representing the accused person Bashir Mohammed, moved a bail application praying the court to admit his client to bail pending the determination of the case.

Hanafi objected the bail application on ground that the accused person if granted bail, would likely jump bail because he had once dishonored the administrative bail granted to him by the EFCC. He added that instead of admitting the accused person to bail, the court shall order for a speedy trial of the matter.

The charge read that "You Sule Yusuf Saulawa while being the permanent secretary with the office of the Deputy Governor, Katsina State, sometimes in 2015 in Katsina, within the Judicial Division of the High Court of Katsina State with intent to defraud falsely obtained from one Alhaji Musa Baba, the Chairman of Many Agro Allied and Chemical Company Nigeria Limited and Diamond Fertilizer Nigeria Limited the sum of N2,500,000 (Two Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira Only) by falsely representing that the Office of the Deputy Governor of Katsina State would award him contract for the supply of fertilizer to all the Local Government areas in the state and asked him to purchase a bidding documents which would be given to him as soon as he writes a proposal offering best price to the State Government which he did, but which you knew all to be false and you thereby committed an offense contrary to section 1 (1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under section 1(3) of the same Act".

Justice Tukur remanded the accused person in prison custody and adjourned the matter to January 6, 2017 for ruling on bail application and commencement of trial.



Isaac Nobenz

FG BEGINS THE PAYMENT OF N5000 MONTHLY STIPENDS TO THE POOREST AND MOST VULNERABLE IN NIGERIA.

N-Power beneficiaries now receiving N30,000 monthly stipends also
FG already implementing four Social Investment Programmes across the country including Micro-Credit Scheme for about 1.2m
payment of N5, 000 monthly stipends to the poorest and the most vulnerable in the country through the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) of its Social Investment Programmes, SIP. This was contained on the information released by Senior Special Assistant on Media & Publicity
As part of its determined efforts to touch the livesof Nigerians positively, the Buhari administration has now started the
Laolu Akande
Under the CCT, one million Nigerians would receive N5000 monthly payments as a form of social safety net for the poorest and most vulnerable as budgeted for in the 2016 Budget. In the first batch that commenced last week, nine states would be covered, and many of the beneficiaries have already reported receiving their first payments by Friday last week, December 30, 2016.
Funds for the commencement of the payments in four states were released last week to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) – the platform that hosts and validates payments for all government’s social intervention programs. Funds for another set of five states to complete the first batch of nine states would follow soon.
Though the sequence for the payment of the money would be operationally managed by NIBSS, beneficiaries in Borno, Kwara and Bauchi States have started receiving the money. The other states in the first batch to commence the CCT payments are Cross Rivers, Niger, Kogi, Oyo, Ogun & Ekiti States.
The nine pilot states were chosen because they have an existing Social Register that successfully identified the most vulnerable and poorest Nigerians through a tried and tested community-based targeting (CBT) method working with the World Bank. However, other states have already begun developing their Social Registers and would be included in subsequent phases of the CCT implementation.
Beneficiaries of the Conditional Cash Transfer of the Federal Government would be mined from the Social Register, initially developed by 8 States through a direct engagement with the World Bank. Those states are featured in the first batch, with the added inclusion of Borno States where a validated list of IDPS was compiled in addition to the Social Register which is expected to go round the country.
Working with the World Bank, the CBT process has now been adopted for developing the Social Register in the other States around the country, for transparency, objectivity, and credibility in the selection of the poorest and most vulnerable beneficiaries for the program.
The Federal Government will actually commence community mobilization for the creation of the Register in more States soon, to expand the scope and reach of the CCT across the country.
Meanwhile, Plateau, Jigawa, Adamawa, Anambra, Benue, Enugu, Katsina & Taraba States have so far complied with the stipulated framework provided, and are set for the community based targeting method for the development of their Social Register within their jurisdictions.
These States are to be followed by Delta, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Imo and Ogun States. Once the community mobilization, identification, and selection processes are completed, the information garnered from the poorest households would be entered onto the Social Register in the states and the National Register at NIBSS, after which the cash transfers would be disbursed to the beneficiaries.
All the funds approved for the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programmes, SIP, are domiciled with the Ministry of Budget and National Planning. In addition, the payment information and processes for all beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s SIP are hosted at NIBSS, as the Consolidated Beneficiary Register, to ensure and fortify efforts at authentication and verification, as well as for effective and efficient program management.
With the commencement of the CCT, the Buhari administration is now implementing four of the Federal Government’s SIP.
Besides the CCT, the N-Power Volunteer Corps designed to hire half a million unemployed graduates which have now engaged 200,000, and the National Homegrown School Feeding Programme now running in three states, the Buhari administration has also kicked-off the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, (GEEP).
Under GEEP, soft loans ranging from N10,000 to 100,000 have been designed for artisans, traders, market women among others.
Already, thousands of cooperatives, market women associations, farmers and enterprising youths, have been identified and registered for the purpose, on an ongoing basis, and the disbursement of the soft loans through the Bank of Industry have started since Nov 25, 2016.
At the last count, for the first phase, beneficiaries have been drawn from the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abia, Adamawa, Bauchi, Delta, Imo, Kwara, Kano, Katsina, Lagos, Osun, Oyo, Ogun and Kogi States.
However, disbursements were halted and deferred until after the festive season. Vetting and approval of beneficiaries are now being continued through the month, with the expectation and plan that by month-end disbursements would have been made to 33,000 beneficiaries.
Regarding the 200,000 beneficiaries of the N-Power program, close to 50% of the graduates, have now been physically verified, and started receiving their monthly stipends of N30,000 last week. The second batch of 300,000 unemployed graduates is expected to be selected early this year to make up the half a million target set by the Buhari administration.
The verified graduates are now being deployed to work as assistant teachers in schools, as community health aides and as agricultural extension workers, in more than 20 States of the Federation. These States include; Abia, Adamawa, Bauchi, Anambra, Benue, Cross Rivers, Borno, Gombe, Edo, Jigawa, Katsina, Plateau, Kogi, Osun, Rivers, Zamfara, Niger, Sokoto, Ogun, and Taraba.
The government has also started the implementation of the National Home-grown School Feeding program designed to feed 5.5 million school children for 200 school days in the first phase of the program. Although the initial design was to feed pupils in 18 States, funding challenges had affected an earlier take-off. But the program has now commenced in Osun, Kaduna and Anambra States. More states are expected to join this new year.
In the new year, it is the plan of the Federal Government to scale up the implementation of the SIP to touch the lives of millions of Nigerians in fulfillment of its promises and in furtherance of its Change agenda.

A 43-YEAR-OLD COMPUTER TEACHER DRAGGED TO COURT FOR RAPING HIS 14-YEAR-OLD PUPIL.

A 43-year-old computer teacher, Cosmos Ugbaja has been dragged before an Ikeja Magistrate Court for allegedly raping his 14-year-old pupil within the school premises.

Vanguard gathered that Cosmos, a resident of 13 Banjo Oyesanya Street, Ishawo, Ikorodu Local Government, allegedly committed the act on June 1st, 2016.

After the act, Cosmos, some elders within the community and the principal, pleaded with the victim’s parents not to report the case to any of the police divisions in Ikorodu, even as they ordered the perpetrator to draft a settlement document which was signed by the victim’s parent, school principal and the elders.

It was learned that Cosmos in the document, admitted committing the act and promised to fund the victim’s medical bill and pay N150, 000 installmentally to the family as compensation.
The agreement later collapsed after the victim’s parent realised the impact of the damage and reported to the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team, Coordinated by Mrs. Lola Vivour-Adeniyi.

At the hearing of the case on Thursday before Magistrate, Mrs. B. Osunsanmi, the Prosecutor, Sergeant Olakunle Orebe, argued that the act was punishable under section 137 of the 2011 Lagos State Criminal law.

The magistrate, Osunsanmi adjourned the case and granted the accuse bail of N500, 000 and two sureties in like sum.

Speaking over the case, Vivour-Adeniyi, said “The office of the Public Defender, OPD has also been notified in order to ensure that the affected person’s rights are not further infringed upon.”

Isaac Nobenz