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Ex- Minister of Youths and Sports, Solomon Dalung, on Friday charged the Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, to provide evidence that ex-Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, was behind the genocide in Southern Kaduna.

He said said Musa should provide the evidence so that steps would be taken to declare the former governor an international criminal.

While El-Rufai was governor, the southern part of Kaduna, which is a largely christian dominated area, witnessed massive killings.

In a recent interview, the former Chief of Defence Staff linked the Southern Kaduna killings to El-Rufai.

Faulting the minister’s claim, El-Rufai’s family had given Musa seven days ultimatum to provide evidence or recant his allegation.

Reacting, said politicians have politicized the killings in Southern Kaduna.

Reacting, Dalung said politicians have politicized the killings in Southern Kaduna.

Featuring on Channels Television’s Inside Sources, Dalung said: “The politicians in Nigeria have now politicized the crisis in Southern Kaduna and that explains why a sitting Minister of Defence in charge intelligence and national security could go so low to the level of exposing national security intelligence to an anchor in a television station, on a very serious issue that is genocidal in content.

“So I still maintain my stand that Musa having volunteered to whet our intellectual appetite that El-Rufai was involved in genocide, we will not allow this issue to die, he must go beyond this and provide us with the ingredient.

If El-Rufai is culpable then we will go to the next step, we will escalate the issue so that he can become an international criminal but where General Musa can’t provide evidence to justify this then leadership in Nigeria would have come under a very serious threat. It means anybody can wake up today and brand anyone a terrorist.”

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The Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas and Electric Vehicles (Pi-CNG & EV) says transportation fares are expected to decrease nationwide from October 1.

This was stated in a communique issued Thursday at the end of a stakeholders’ meeting to review readiness and progress in implementing affordable CNG and electric vehicle transportation.

The stakeholders’ engagement, convened by Pi-CNG & EV, brought together representatives of state governments, including transport commissioners in various states.

“Several states are already making progress towards meeting the federal government’s target through the deployment of CNG and electric mobility solutions,” the communique stated.

Reports from various states captured in the communique showed that several states had deployed CNG and electric buses, tricycles, motorcycles, conversion centres, refuelling facilities, and charging infrastructure.

It also showed that commuters using supported clean mobility services in some states were already paying fares significantly lower than prevailing rates.

The communique said that Niger, for instance, has procured 200 CNG buses, with 35 already operational, alongside 11 electric vehicle charging stations. It said Abia deployed 40 electric buses and 20 charging stations, with plans to increase its fleet to 100 buses by December.

Some stakeholders met in Abuja to review their readiness and progress in implementing affordable CNG and electric vehicle transportation.

Ismaeel Ahmed, the executive chairman of Pi-CNG & EV, said the engagement would focus on addressing infrastructure gaps in states where CNG and electric vehicles were already available but needed additional refuelling, charging, and conversion facilities.

Mr Ahmed said that states agreed to identify their busiest transport corridors and provide relevant data to guide the deployment of additional CNG infrastructure. They are also expected to submit three priority interventions that can realistically be delivered in line with the October 1 target.

Each state is to establish an implementation team comprising officials from the transport, energy and related sectors to work directly with Pi-CNG & EV. The initiative will assign coordinators to facilitate implementation and monitor progress at the state level.

“Private-sector participation will also be prioritised, with state investment promotion agencies expected to work towards a common framework for attracting investments into CNG and EV infrastructure.

“The engagement is to ensure that the lower operating costs of CNG and electric mobility translate into actual savings for commuters. The Federal and state governments are working to make affordable public transportation available to more Nigerians,” Mr Ahmed said.

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Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has began the final phase of its recruitment screening, with shortlisted candidates undergoing documentation, physical fitness assessments and medical screening.

The NCS Spokesperson, Abdullahi Maiwada, who made this known on Thursday, said the screening was being conducted at the service’s Training and Doctrine Command, TRADOC, Gwagwalada, Abuja.

Maiwada said the two-week exercise, which commenced on Monday, would run until September 19 and cover shortlisted applicants for the Assistant Superintendent of Customs II, ASCII, Inspectorate and Customs Assistant cadres.

He said candidates were being screened in batches arranged alphabetically according to their states of origin to prevent congestion and ensure an orderly exercise.

Addressing the candidates, Frank Onyeka, Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs in charge of Human Resource Development, said the service was evaluating character and professional conduct alongside physical fitness.

Onyeka congratulated the candidates for reaching the stage and urged them to comply with the guidelines of the exercise.

He said the candidates should remain orderly and strictly adhere to the guidelines, adding that their attitude, discipline and conduct were critical factors in determining who would ultimately join the service.

He also said the NCS was working closely with the Customs Police and other relevant units within the service to safeguard the integrity of the recruitment process.

Also speaking, Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs and Commandant of the Nigeria Customs Command and Staff College, Gwagwalada, Dow Gaura, said administrative innovations and inter-agency collaboration had helped streamline the exercise.

Gaura said the activities of the recruitment exercise reflected the policy vision of the Comptroller-General, Bashir Adeniyi, which emphasised continuous operational improvement, collaboration and innovation.

He described the process as seamless and hitch-free, noting that it had been conducted without any casualties.

The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that screening for the Assistant Superintendent of Customs, ASC, cadre ended on Thursday, while evaluations for the Inspectorate and Customs Assistant cadres would continue until September 19.

The NCS had announced an annual recruitment cycle and released the final list of 3,852 successful candidates for its 2024/2025 recruitment exercise on August 4.

The exercise received 573,680 applications for 3,852 positions, with 1,275 candidates selected for the Superintendent Cadre, 367 for the Inspectorate Cadre and 2,210 for the Customs Assistant Cadre.