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FG to review legislation criminalizing suicide attempt
FG to review legislation criminalizing suicide attempt
BY Francesca Hangeior
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), has promised to review the law criminalising suicide attempts in the country.
He gave the promise when he received a delegation from the Asido Foundation, a non-governmental organisation promoting mental health advocacy and reforms.
This was contained in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja by the Special Adviser to the President on Communications and Publicity, Office of the AGF, Kamarudeen Ogundele.
“The law is something we have to take a second look at, especially where it is established that the offenders are not in the right state of mind. What the offenders need is pity, treatment and love, to rid society of this kind of situation.
“But whatever we do is not binding on the states. So, I will take the case to the Body of Attorneys General,” Fagbemi said.
He promised to take up the issues around the Mental Health Act with his colleagues in the Federal Ministry of Health.
Founder of Asido, Dr Jibril Abdulmalik, appealed to the AGF to help review the law sentencing people for attempted suicide and the implementation of the Mental Health Act signed into law by former President Muhammadu Buhari in January 2023.
He said medical evidence had shown that all over the world, 80 to 90 per cent of those who attempted suicide had background mental illness, especially depression.
Abdulmalik said, “It is because of a sense of hopelessness that makes them get to the edge where they think they are better off dying.
“In that situation what they need is help and treatment, not punishment and incarceration. We know the workload is heavy for our judicial officers…We don’t want them overburdened with cases that should ordinarily go to the hospitals,” he added.
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
US President-elect, Donald Trump’s incoming administration plans to immediately order a series of deportation raids targeting illegal immigrants after his inauguration.
Chicago is expected to be the first major city targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as part of Operation Safeguard, the New York Times reported, citing two people familiar with planning the undertaking.
The massive deportation operation is expected to target criminals and gang members in the United States illegally and run for one week.
Trump has promised to conduct the largest deportation program in U.S. history.
Up to 200 ICE agents are being sent to Chicago to help kick off the operation on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported. The agency has already asked agents to volunteer for the post-inauguration raids.
“There’s gonna be a big raid across the country,” Tom Homan, who will be in charge of U.S. borders once Trump takes office, told Fox News in an interview.
Homan has previously said he will instruct ICE agents to carry out raids on illegal immigrants at their workplaces.
In addition to Chicago, the sweeping crackdown will also target other major U.S. cities with large immigrant populations.
Trump is set to take the oath of office on Monday, January 20, in an inauguration that will take place indoors.
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
A faith-based civil society organization, CSO that monitors and reports on Hajj and Umrah activities, the Independent Hajj Reporters, IHR, has commended the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, for selecting a different Saudi-based Hajj service provider for the 2025 Hajj season.
It said the decision would create healthy competition among service providers interested in efficiently, qualitatively, and satisfactorily serving Nigerian pilgrims.
The CSO, in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Malam Ibrahim Muhammed, in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, and made available to our correspondent on Sunday in Abuja, said the quest for improved Hajj services has been a major challenge for Nigerian pilgrims owing to the repeated failure of providing satisfactory services.
”We applauded the decision to pick another service provider that will cater for the needs of pilgrims within the Masha’ir areas during the five days of Hajj,” he said
The national coordinator, who is currently in Saudi Arabia to monitor the pre-Hajj arrangements, said available information shows that the new company, Mashariq Al Dhahabia, is an experienced provider that has served top-rated Hajj countries, like Indonesia and Malaysia, and ranked among the top five Hajj service providers by the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Hajj and Umrah.
“The company served 249 706 which is the largest number of Hajj pilgrims during the 2023 hajj. They were awarded as the Best Hajj Service Providers during the 2022 Hajj by the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah,” he stated.
IHR said it further understood that NAHCON is planning to recruit another service provider to provide services for very important personalities, VIP pilgrims so as not to repeat the experience of previous years, which is also a desired step forward.
It, however, urged NAHCON to set a parameter of performance for the newly selected service providers to serve as a baseline for determining continuous patronage, advising that such criteria should be based on pilgrims’ satisfaction and adherence to contractual terms.
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