Abducted students of the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi in Benue State North Central Nigeria have been released by their abductors.

The Police on Wednesday confirmed the release of the kidnapped students.

Details of their release are sketchy as it is not clear if ransom was paid with some level of negotiations carried out between the abductors and government.

However, the Benue State Police Public Relations Officer, Catherine Anene indicated that the students were released unhurt.

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About two million kilogramme of illicit substances valued at Eighty billion naira has been seized by the National Drug laws enforcement agency NDLEA within the last three months.

Chief executive officer NDLEA Brig. General Mohammed Buba Marwa (Rtd) announced this while playing host the Acting Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba Alkali in Abuja who visited the anti drug agency to seek for synergy in fighting crimes and criminality in the country.

The NDLEA chief told the Police boss that the agency has secured over three hundred and fifty convictions with over two thousand one hundred persons arrested in his one hundred days in office.

These successes according to Marwa were recorded due to robust offensive and clamp down on drug traffickers across the country.

The NDLEA boss noted that with renewed collaboration and information sharing with the Nigerian Police, more seizures of illicit substances and drug barons will recorded and security of lives and property will be achieved.

He said, “I have the highest respect for the Nigerian Police Force when properly motivated and equiped. Your visit is timely, we need renewed collaboration between us because the use of drugs is now confirmed as a major cause of criminal activities in Nigeria”.

 The NDLEA boss said “so far about fifteen million Nigerians use drugs which  is very high number and working with the mandate giving to us by the President to mob up all illicit substances and make Nigeria a very safe heaven, the NDLEA has remained up standing by racheting all our activities.”

Marwa who congratulated the Acting Inspector General of Police, promised better collaboration with the Police and solicited for training for his men for better capacity. “We believe Nigerian Police Force will support us with Intelligence tracking and training support at the Police institutes. We should also appoint liaison between us so that there will be contact.” Marwa added.

Earlier, the Acting Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba Alkali while congratulating the NDLEA boss, seek for synergy and collaboration in crime prevention.

He said criminals in whatever guise use illicit drugs to perpetuate criminality adding that when the synergy between the two agencies will nib criminality and safeguard the society.

He said “behind every crime there’s always the issue of drug and if we synergize, corporate and collaborate it will very beneficial to Nigerians and indeed the law enforcement as a whole”.

The Police boss assured readiness to corporate with the anti drug agency in conducting any operations to rid the country of crimes and criminality. “Anytime 247, sir we are ready to collaborate with you”. AIG emphasized.

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The House of Representatives has passed for second reading, an amendment bill to create special seats for women in the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly, for more inclusion of women in governance.

The amendment Bill proposed thirty seven additional seats at the Senate, fifty four seats at the House of Representatives and three seats in each of the thirty six States of the Federation.

Speaking on the bill, the Sponsor, Mrs. Nkiruka Onyejeocha expressed concern that Nigeria was identified among the wost performer in Women Representation in Parliament with only 4.4 percent representation despite their potential, capability and contribution to Nation building.

Mrs. Onyejeocha, who is the Deputy Chief Wip of the House said Nigeria will not afford to be left behind in achieving significant percent of women inclusion in line with the Nation’s gender policy.

She said “Our West African neighbour, Senegal, adopted a parity law in their Constitution in 2012. This was facilitated by then President, Abdoulaye Wade and resulted to an almost 50-50 balance between men and women in the Senegalese Parliament. Nigerian women are not even asking for 50-50 but 35% which is what is indicated in our National Gender Policy and several international Treaties that we are signatory to. The number is identified as the “critical mass/number” of women required to achieve impactful results.

I would like emphasis that women’s inclusion in politics is not just a women or human rights issue, but also an issue of reflecting our history and traditions in our governance process, and I truly believe that this Bill has potential for improving women’s political representation.”

In recent Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU) ranking of women in parliaments, Nigeria ranked 179 out of 187 Countries Worldwide. Eritrea is the only African Country ranked lower than Nigeria, because there have not been national elections since its independence in 1993.

The Bill is comprised of six major clauses that seeks to alter Sections 48; 49; 71; 77; 91; and 117 as set out below-

The proposed amendments

1. Alteration of Section 48

Section 48 of the Principal Act is altered by substituting the existing section 48 with a new section “48” – 

“48. Composition of the Senate 

(1) The Senate shall consist of:

(a) three Senators from each State and one from the Federal Capital Territory; and

(b) an additional Senator for each State and for the Federal Capital Territory, who shall be a woman.

(2) Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (1) of this section, nothing shall prevent a woman from contesting for any of the senatorial seats referred to in subsection (1) (a).

(3) The provisions of subsection (1) (b) shall commence after the current life of the National Assembly and shall be reviewed after 16 years from its commencement notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution.”

2. Alteration of Section 49

Section 49 of the Principal Act is altered by substituting the existing section 49 with a new section “49” – 

“49. Composition of the House of Representatives

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the House of Representatives shall consist of: 

(a) three hundred and sixty members representing constituencies of nearly equal population as far as possible, provided that no constituency shall fall within more than one State; and

(b) two additional members for each State and for the Federal Capital Territory, who shall be women.

(2) Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (1) of this section, nothing shall prevent a woman from contesting for any of the seats in the constituencies referred to in subsection (1)(a).

(3) The provisions of subsection (1) (b) shall commence after the current life of the National Assembly and shall be reviewed after16 years from its commencement notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution.

3. Alteration of Section 71

Section 71 of the Principal Act is altered by inserting immediately after sub-sections (1) (a) and (b), new subsections “(2)” and “(3)” – 

71. Senatorial districts and Federal constituencies 

(1) Subject to the provisions of section 72 of this Constitution, the Independent National Electoral Commission shall – 

(a) Divide each State of the Federation into three Senatorial districts for purposes of elections to the Senate; 

(b) Subject to the provisions of section 49 of this Constitution, divide the Federation into three hundred and sixty Federal constituencies for purposes of elections to the House of Representatives.

(2) For the purpose of section 48 of this Constitution, a State shall constitute an additional senatorial seat to be occupied by a woman.

(3) For the purpose of section 49 of this Constitution, the Independent National Electoral Commission shall divide each State of the Federation into two Federal constituencies to be occupied by women.

4. Alteration of Section 77

Section 77 of the Principal Act is altered in subsection (1) by substituting the words “every Senatorial district or Federal constituency” in lines 1 and 2 with the words “every Senatorial district, Federal constituency and the additional seats”– 

“77. Direct election and franchise 

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, every Senatorial district, Federal constituency and the additional seats established in accordance with the provisions of this Part of this Chapter shall return one member who shall be directly elected to the Senate or the House of Representatives in such manner as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly.”

5. Alteration of Section 91

Section 91 of the Principal Act is altered by substituting the existing section 91 with a new section “91” – 

“91. Composition of the House of Assembly 

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, a House of Assembly of a State shall consist of: 

(a)  three or four times the number of seats, which that State has in the House of Representatives divided in a way to reflect, as far as possible, nearly equal population; and

(b) one additional member from each of the three senatorial districts in the State referred to in section 48 (1) (a) of this Constitution, who shall be a woman.

(2) Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (1) of this section, nothing shall prevent a woman from contesting for any of the seats in the constituencies referred to in subsection (1)(a)

(3) The provisions of subsection (1) (b) shall commence after the current life of the State House of Assembly and shall be reviewed after 16 years from its commencement notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution.

Provided that a House of Assembly of a State shall consist of not less than twenty-four and not more than forty-three members.”

6. Alteration of Section 117

Section 117 of the Principal Act is altered in subsection (1) by inserting immediately after the words “every State constituency” in line 1, the words “and the additional seats”– 

“117. Direct election and franchise 

Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, every State constituency and the additional seats established in accordance with the provisions of this part of this Chapter shall return one member who shall be directly elected to a House of Assembly in such manner as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly.”

The Senate Committee on Public Accounts, has given the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed; Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) Ahmed Idris and the National Security Adviser, (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd), till next week Tuesday to explain the rationale behind secret withdrawal of =N=7.5bn from government coffers.

The =N=7.5bn was said to be two percent (2%) of the National automotive council design & development council (NADDC), levy account domiciled with the central bank of Nigeria (CBN).

It would be recalled that two weeks ago, the committee summoned the heads of the affected agencies to appear before it but they failed to present themselves at the scheduled meeting on Wednesday, 28th April, 2021.

Presenting the details of the withdrawal before the committee on Wednesday, the Director General of NADDC, Jelani Tukur said that the agency had written to the minister and Accountant General of the Federation, on the withdrawal of =N=3.7 billion as loan to NAFCON, withdrawal of =N=3.8 billion for security personnel car loan scheme and another withdrawal of =N=2.3 billion as loan to Steyrs Nigeria Limited.

Jelani added that the agency had also written a letter to remind Niger Insurance Plc on the agreement  reached on July 9th 2020 as ordered by the Committee . The first letters were written to the minister and the Accountant General on 23 April, 2021 and delivered to them on 26 April, 2021.

The second was written to the Minister on 26th of April and was delivered to the Minister on 27th April while that of Accountant General of the Federation was delivered on 26th of April.

Chairman of the committee, Senator Matthew Urhoghide insisted that all parties involved in the withdrawal of money must be present by next week Tuesday and give the Committee assurance that the money will be returned to the NADDC’s Account which is domiciled in Central Bank.According to him, “they should bring evidence of the approval when they are coming on Tuesday, and the money must be returned otherwise, the committee will take a drastic action on the issue at stake.”

 “A total sum of =N=3,836,000,000.00 (Three billion, eight hundred and thirty-six million naira) was irregularly withdrawn from the 2% National Automotive Council Levy Account with the Central Bank of Nigeria, Abuja in 2 installments of =N=2,800,000,000 (in 2005) and =N=1,036,000,000.00 (in 2006) by the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Finance as car loan to be granted for the Security Personnel Car Purchase Scheme Loan.

“The transaction was carried out by the Presidency in collaboration with the Bank of Industry, the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Accountant-General of the Federation without the involvement of NAC, the account owner.

 “However the principal and the accrued interest from the fictitious loan have not been paid back nor are records available on the beneficiaries, agreement documents, moratorium, duration of the loan, the yearly interest rates accruable and how the fund will be paid back by the beneficiary. 

“The Director General has been requested to intensify correspondence with the Honourable Minister of Finance, Accountant-General of the Federation and the Presidency to recover the fund (loan),” the query stated.

The Nigerian Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, has disbursed a total sum of N4,180,797,272.22 billion to the six Area Councils in the FCT and other stakeholders as its share of statutory allocation for the month of March 2021.

FCT Minister of State, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, who presided over the 152nd Joint Area Councils Allocation Committee (JAAC), stated that there was an increase of over N444 million when compared to February 2021 allocation.

She revealed that in the month of February, the total sum of N3,736, 038, 550.20 billion was disbursed to the six area councils and other stakeholders, while the sum of N4,180,797,272.22   billion was allocated to the six area councils and other stakeholders for the month of March, 2021.

The minister explained that the increase in the allocation was as a result of increase in the statutory revenue allocation from the federation account.

The figures released indicate that the sum of N2,494,685,268.15 billion was made available for distribution to the six area councils, while the sum of N1,686,112, 004.07 billion was made available to other stakeholders, bringing the total sum to N4,180,797,272.22 billion.

However, distribution to area councils shows that the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), received N462,997,833.34 million, while Gwagwalada got N440,752, 506.01 million and Kuje received N395,560, 630.68 million.

Similarly, Bwari Area Council received N395,076,462.20 million, Abaji got N400,772, 396.88 million and Kwali received N399, 525, 439,.04 million.

Furthermore, distribution to other stakeholders include: Primary Teachers which gulped N1, 309, 975, 636.14 billion, 15 percent Pension Funds took N226, 478, 989.57 million, One percent Training Fund gulped N41, 807, 972.73 million, while 10 percent Employer Pension Contribution gulped N107,849,405.63 million.

Aliyu, who used the occasion to call on members of local government employees to shelve their proposed industrial action, assured the leadership of the union that all the six area council chairmen are committed to the implementation of the new minimum wage to workers.

She, however, advocated for training of area council staff with a view to harmonizing the salary structures of staff, stressing that the disparity identified during the verification exercise should be harmonized.

The minister commended all the stakeholders for showing understanding in the distribution of monthly allocation to area councils and other stakeholders.

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