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Zamfara boat mishap, Speaker Abbas laments deaths of 40

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The Speaker of the House of Representatives Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, has lamented the death of 40 persons in a boat mishap in Gummi Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

On Saturday, about 40 persons were reported to have lost their lives in a boat mishap in Gummi LGA. The Zamfara State Emergency Management Agency (ZEMA) said the boat was carrying about 50 passengers when the accident occurred.

Speaker Abbas described the mishap as “one too many,” noting that he received the news of the “tragic and saddening incident” with a heavy heart.

Similarly, the Speaker lamented the recent floods that ravaged Gummi LGA, displacing hundreds of people.

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The Speaker sent his heartfelt condolences to the people and the government of Zamfara State, particularly in Gummi LGA over the unfortunate incidents.

He called on the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and relevant agencies to immediately provide relief assistance to the affected people and communities.

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Group wants ex-IG Okiro Ohanaeze Ndigbo President

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A socio-cultural group in Rivers State, ‘Ogbako Egbema Alinso,’ has made a case for a former Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, to succeed Nze Ozichukwu Chukwu, as the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide.

Chukwu was appointed to complete the tenure of Imo State after the demise of prominent politician and businessman, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, with the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, subsequently disclosing the zoning of the exalted position to Rivers State.

The election for the next President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo is billed to be held between January 10 and 11, 2025.

While there has been support for the former IGP Okiro, to take on the mantle of leadership of the body, there have also been questions surrounding his ethnic qualifications for the role.

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National President-General of Ogbako Egbema Alinso, Francis Igwebuike Ifi, at a press briefing in Egbema in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State on Monday, maintained that Okiro is a bonafide Rivers indigene and enjoys the support of the Egbema people.

Igwebuike Ifi stated, “The insinuation that he’s not from Rivers State is what is doubtful in the minds of people, but today, let it be clear to all and sundry that Sir Mike Mbama Okiro, is an Egbema man from Rivers State.

“This is a social-cultural organization, because of the political divide, we’ve come together to say Egbema is one and we are not bending to any political delineation.

“So, if he aspires to vie for any position in the country, Egbema has asked him today to go ahead. He is qualified for it, he is a Rivers man, let him go ahead and vie for it as a Rivers man.”

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Ifi further said, “Let the people who are making such insinuations (that Okiro) is not from Rivers State), let the people who want to denigrate him, please tow another line.

“When a man is qualified to get one thing, give it to him, don’t look at where he’s from. We assure the country that Sir Okiro is a born Egbema man from Rivers State.”

Earlier in his remarks, a monarch and Nzeobi of Egbema, Rivers State, His Royal Majesty, Eze Everistus Amuda, re-echoed Ifi’s stance, saying, “Dr. Okiro is my a member of my palace. He hails from Nzeobi, he never aspired for any position before he was enrolled in Nzeobi of Egbema and all the enrollment is his first involvement in Egbema.

“He hails from Ogba/Egbema Local Government Area. He is qualified to contest for the position.”

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Meanwhile, the group has called for an end to what it described as incessant extra-judicial killings along the boundary between Egbema in Imo State and Egbema in Rivers State.

Expressing displeasure at the situation, the President-General of the body said, “The very incessant extra judicial killings at the boundary between Egbema Imo and Egbema Rivers is uncalled for. Who are the persons killing these people along Egbema? Just before the TCC or after the TCC, recently a woman, a pregnant young lady, was shot to death.

“With expertise and the position of our national leader, the Ogbako Egbema has condemned such extrajudicial killings in its entirety and we don’t want it to continue unless they don’t want the existence of Egbema people here.

“Whosoever is involved in such extra-judicial killings should stop, before they kill all of us. The killing has become too much. The Egbema people are tired of the extra-judicial killings along that place.”

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Population commission registers 10m children in three months

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The National Population Commission has announced the successful registration of over 10 million children aged zero to five years within the last three months.

The Chairman of the commission, Alhaji Nasir Kwarra, stated this while speaking to journalists after the First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu presented a birth certificate to the baby of the year at the Asokoro General Hospital, Abuja on Wednesday.

Kwarra, who was represented by the Federal Commissioner from Katsina State, Bala Banya, described the registration as a milestone in the country’s efforts to establish a robust identity management system.

He emphasised the importance of birth registration, noting that it provides a legal identity and affirms the child’s status as a Nigerian.

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“One, the birth certificate is an identity. It’s a legal identity. It is a document that identifies that somebody is a Nigerian,” he said.

The NPC has integrated the issuance of e-birth certificates with the National Identity Number system.

According to the chairman, children registered are now automatically assigned a NIN at the time of their birth registration, ensuring their inclusion in the national database.

“In the last three months, we have registered more than 10 million children aged zero to five years. And this registration is continuous.

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“We will now concentrate more on under one year registration and we are making tremendous progress,” he added.

The Director General of the commission, Dr. Osifo Ojogun, stressed that the commission had concluded plans to establish over 4,000 registration centres throughout the country to bring registration centres closer to the people.

The DG also noted that the commission was taking advantage of available technology to ensure every child registered, have an identity that cannot be duplicated anywhere.

He appreciated the first Lady who was represented by the wife of the vice president, Hajiya Nana Shettima, for presenting the certificate to the baby of the year.

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Ojogun also urged Nigerians to register their deaths with the commission to enable it maintain a clean register.

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FCCPC petitioned over DisCos’ failure to replace obsolete meters

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A customer of the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company, Associate Professor Tunde Akanni, has written a petition to the vice chairman of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission over the utility company’s alleged failure to replace his obsolete prepaid meter.

In the petition titled, ‘SOS On Massive Extortion of Customers by Ikeja Electric Distribution Company,’ Akanni sought the urgent intervention of the FCCPC.

According to him, the IKEDC recently deactivated his Unistar meter despite an order by the FCCPC that the meter should not be deactivated by any DisCo.

“As the sole supplier of electricity in Ikeja, where I live in government quarters, IKEDC recently began to deactivate the Unistar prepaid meters serving residents of LASG quarters at 47, Sobo Arobiodu Street, Ikeja GRA. The deactivation continued after the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, FCCPC, warned IKEDC against activities on the Unistar meters.

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“What they do is await the exhaustion of the running credits on meters, allow customers to recharge their cards, but ensure they are not able to reload. Once this happens and you report back with your complaints, they would tell you that your meter is bad and due for replacement and that they have new meters in abundance. They would convince you to allow the retrieval of the Unistar meter,” he explained.

The don alleged customers were compelled to get reconnected and moved into estimated billing that pushed monthly energy costs from N50,000 to N270,000. This was even as he was asked to pay N120,000 for a new meter.

He stated, “Once the customer begins to feel that his hope is merely hanging, the customers would be compelled to make desperate requests for reconnection, and they would deceitfully reconnect you, but that would make customers pay through their nose. In the past, customers like me whose monthly consumption hardly exceeded N50,000 following the banding regime had been summarily billed as much as N270,000. Fellow residents of government quarters have had to complain to me about their helplessness and their dramatic bankruptcy on account of this arbitrary billing.

“In my own case specifically, my meter was retrieved on December 27, 2024, after recharging with N25,000 but failing to reload following their treacherous deactivation. Against my stated position that I was aware of the FCCPC directive to them, they insisted that I should immediately apply online for a new meter, reiterating that they had new meters in abundance but that I would have to pay N120,000. For fear of wasting all the foods stocked up in the house and to also avoid being slapped with any humongous arbitrary bill, I went to their office to follow up. The response from their customer care operatives at the Ikeja office was that their portal was down, implying that all processes of new meter application had been stalled and therefore arbitrary billing would continue for as long as the portal was down.

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“I, therefore, seek your immediate intervention from the shenanigan of IKEDC to stall their onslaught against lawful customers. If they have the effrontery to subject LASG employees living in government quarters to this embarrassing situation, one can imagine what helpless private citizens are being subjected to by IKEDC.”

Officials of the IKEDC were contacted for their reactions to the allegations raised by the customer.

However, they have yet to reply to messages sent to them by our correspondent.

An official, who did not want to be mentioned, said the Unistar meters have always been an issue, saying that was why the company planned to phase out the meters in November before it was stopped by the FCCPC.

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Meanwhile, our correspondent recalled that some meters were phased out following their inability to be updated as of November 2024.

The PUNCH reports that about three million customers might be forced into the estimated billing system as the users would no longer be able to buy energy credits.

But the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission ordered that obsolete meters be replaced at no cost to customers and no one should be forced into estimated billing.

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