The Zamfara Government has confirmed the abduction of female students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Talata-Mafara Local Government area of the state.
The confirmation was made by the Commissioner of Security and Home Affairs, Alhaji Abubakar Dauran, in a brief interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gusau on Friday
The abductors in their hundreds invaded the town and took away the students at about 2 a.m.
“I can confirm to you now that we have sadly received the report on the abduction of the students of GGSS Jangebe and right now, I am on my way to the school.
“At this moment, l cannot say how many students were taken away by the gunmen until l get there, but we have already mobilised security men and members of the vigilantatè who are now in pursuit of the abductors,” the commissioner stated.
A staff of the school who spoke to NAN on condition of anonymity said, “the gunmen in their hundreds invaded the town around 2 a.m on Friday, shot sporadically in the air to scare the residents before coming into the school.
“After taking away most of the students, we rounded up those that escaped or hid from the bandits and conducted a census where we counted 54 students and we are still searching to see if we can get more,” he said.
Also, a resident who gave his name as Haliru Jangebe, said ihat the local vigilantes had tried to repel the invaders but were overpowered.
“The bandits were too many and they all seemed to be carrying heavy arms as we heard gunshots from all parts of the town and when the shots stopped, we heard that the students had been taken away,” he said.
At least 22 Iraqi fighters, who belong to pro-Iranian militant groups, were killed in U.S. strikes in eastern Syria, a monitor group said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the strikes targeted three trucks of ammunition that were being moved from Iraq through an area near al-Qaim crossing into Syria’s Deir al-Zour province.
The militants killed were members of Kait’ib Hezbollah and the Hashd al-Shaabi Iraqi militia groups, the Observatory said.
The Pentagon said on Thursday that U.S. President Joe Biden had ordered an airstrike against infrastructure used by Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria.
The Federal Government on Thursday appealed to highway traders and beggars under bridges and along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway to immediately vacate the highway to save lives.
The Federal Controller of Works in Ogun State, Mr Umar Bakare made the appeal during the grand finale of a two-day mass sensitisation exercise against road abuse and encroachment.
Bakare who led a delegation of engineers and the Federal Controllers of Works in Lagos and Oyo States raised the alarm over danger to lives of business owners and traders.
He advised those carrying out commercial activities on road medians and setbacks between Ojota in Lagos to Ojoo in Ibadan, to quickly vacate the spot to escape avoidable accidents.
Bakare who interjected between Yoruba and English languages warned “how can you be selling in the middle of a highway or moving your wares very close to the road with trailers running on this expressway?
Federal Ministry of Works and Housing team addressing drivers and traders who are illegally occupying the Right of Way of the ongoing reconstruction Lagos-Ibadan Expressway during a sensitization programme before their eviction in Ibadan on Thursday
“Government said we should sensitise and beg you. Please stop risking your lives. We are constructing this road for you and some people are risking their own lives selling here’’.
“God forbid that a trailer veers off the road or falls from this bridge, what do you think would happen to all of you here considering your huge number?’’ he warned.
Bakare condemned the manager of a petrol station, along Sapade on the Ogun axis who damaged newly constructed drains; while using newly constructed drains and road setbacks as parking space for articulated vehicles.
“You are destroying the kerbs, chutes, and now this drain that we just constructed to prevent your filling station from flooding, I will write my report about this and forward to Abuja,’’ Umar said.
He also advised several youth traders who used the unemployment as excuse to approach their various local governments towards securing safe zones for commercial activities instead of the highways.
Also, the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos, Mr Olukayode Popoola represented by Mr Adewale Adebote, said the huge abuse of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and underneath the bridges was worrisome.
Popoola expressed satisfaction that the positive responses from those encroaching on the highway would change the tide because some of them were not aware that their activities have negative impact on the road.
“We are currently at Iwo Road Interchange where you have motor parks and other services, this is a major terminal in Ibadan and you can see how dangerous it is for people to trade here on the road,’’he said.
Popoola said that the Minister for Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola gave a directive for the awareness campaign on the dangers of roads abuses, adding that, the highway laws would be implemented thereafter.
The Federal Controller of Works in Oyo State, Mr Kayode Ibrahim who led a sensitisation campaign in his domain said that government was serious now about recovery of its Right of Way (RoW).
“We are here to sensitise the general public particularly those who are occupying the RoW of our roads illegally to desist from it, we are sensitising them so that they can move from there,’’ he said.
Ibrahim said the exercise was to make residents understand the dangers to both themselves and the highway to extract willing compliance by appealing to them because government did not want to use force.
He said that the collaboration of the three states would ensure better result during the sensitisation through the various stages to return sanity to the road.
NAN reports that the two-day trip began in Lagos on Wednesday and was concluded at Ojoo in Ibadan on Thursday with residents given opportunities to bare their minds and clear their confusions.
Senior engineers in the team gave out fliers, placed seal of removal notices on shanties, abandoned vehicles, wares, fences and other facilities encroaching on the RoW.
They used public address system to blare out messages in the three major indigenous languages, English and Pidgin on the dangers of abuse on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway undergoing reconstruction and rehabilitation.
The delegation discussed with mechanics, spare part dealers, traders, business owners and various artisans involved in various activities on road setbacks and under the bridges.
They issued warnings and educated the people on the approved road setback for filling stations, fences and other buildings along the highway.
They explained that after the sensitisation exercise, quit notices would be served and a date for demolition communicated should those who are liable refuse to obey the government.
Filling stations and other businesses encroaching on the RoW were served notices and educated on approved road set back which is 150ft or 45.72 metres from the median on the road.
A business owner who presented documents was advised to remain within limits specified in the survey, while others who claimed to have legally binding agreements were advised to tender such papers to the Federal Controllers of their respective states.
Those living under bridges were asked to vacate for both their safety and that of the bridges, while petroleum products retailers were told how their activities caused quick road degeneration. (NAN)
Eritrean troops systematically killed hundreds of unarmed civilians in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, Amnesty International said on Friday.
The worst of the fighting took place in the northern city of Axum between Nov. 28 and Nov. 29, with soldiers opening fire in the streets and conducting house-to-house raids.
According to Amnesty International in the new report, this is “a massacre that may amount to a crime against humanity’’.
It said 41 survivors and witnesses and 20 others with knowledge of the events told the researchers.
They gave details of the extrajudicial executions, indiscriminate shelling and widespread looting that took place after Ethiopian and Eritrean troops led an offensive and took control of the city on Nov. 19.
Satellite image analysis has corroborated the reports and shown mass burial sites, according to Amnesty.
“Ethiopian and Eritrean troops carried out multiple war crimes.
“Eritrean troops went on a rampage and systematically killed hundreds of civilians in cold blood,’’ said Amnesty director for East and Southern Africa, Deprose Muchena.
“The Amnesty findings should be taken very seriously,’’ Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) chief commissioner, Daniel Bekele, said in response to the report.
While the EHRC had not yet finalised its investigation, its preliminary findings also indicate the killing of an unknown number of civilians by Eritrean soldiers in Axum, Bekele said in a statement.
The killings were done in retaliation for an earlier attack by Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) soldiers who were joined by a small number of local residents and were carried out by Eritrean soldiers after the TPLF soldiers left the area, according to Bekele.
The commission is also investigating allegations of shelling in multiple places across the Tigray region, Bekele said.
The commission previously confirmed lootings and sexual violence in Axum as well as damages to civilian infrastructures in different parts of the Tigray region.
“The full extent of the damages and violations including characterisation of the nature of human rights violations is not yet known since the investigation covers a large area,’’ Bekele said.
Earlier this week, the foundation of South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Desmond Tutu, warned the people in the Tigray region are facing “genocide”.
Ethiopia launched a military offensive in Tigray in November to diminish the power of the TPLF, which rules the region and has been critical of the government.
It remains unclear why Eritrean forces might have fought alongside Ethiopia’s army in the Tigray conflict, but there has been long-standing animosity between the TPLF and Eritrea since a 1998-2000 border war.
Eritrea denies its involvement in the Tigray conflict.
Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) on Friday said it had lifted the temporary suspension placed on Boeing 737 MAX aircraft operating to and from the country.
It said that the suspension order was issued following two deadly accidents involving the model.
A total of 346 people perished in two accidents involving Boeing 737 Max jets, one in Indonesia in October 2018 and another in Ethiopia in March 2019.
The planes were grounded worldwide and only certified to fly again last November.
In both crashes, a sensor provided incorrect data to the software, prompting the nose to dive. Pilots were unable to override the automatic settings.
The new version of the software is to be fed into the data from two sensors.
The 737 MAX has already received approval in Boeing’s home country, the United States, by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and in the European Union by the EASA, among others.
“We have accepted the comprehensive return-to-service requirements specified by the FAA as State of Design for the 737 MAX and are confident that the aircraft are safe,” CASA’s acting head and director of aviation safety, Graeme Crawford, said in a statement.
“Our airworthiness and engineering team has assessed them and concluded that there are no additional return-to-service requirements for operation in Australia.”
No Australian airlines currently operate the Boeing 737 MAX. In pre-coronavirus pandemic, only Singapore-based SilkAir, now Singapore Airlines, and Fiji Airways did.
“With COVID-19 continuing to disrupt international air travel, there is currently no indication when Singapore airlines and Fiji Airways will resume their operations to Australia,” Crawford said.
The Canadian government says it is concerned by the multiple hotel sexual assaults involving travelers during COVID-19 quarantine enforcement, but will continue with the programmes, cabinet ministers told the House of Commons.
To date, two women have been assaulted after being subject to government quarantine measures. A woman identified as “Sarah” was assaulted in her state-designated hotel room near the Montreal-Trudeau International Airport.
Another woman was assaulted at her home by a state-trained security guard during a quarantine enforcement check.
“I am deeply concerned by the reports of violence and sexual assault,” Chrystia Freeland said during plenary question period session.
Canada’s Conservative Party, led by Shadow Minister for Health Michelle Rempel Garner, has called on the Trudeau government to suspend the hotel quarantine programme and introduce an at-home quarantine verification system by properly trained and vetted security agents.
Canada’s Health Minister Patty Hajdu rejected the calls for the revision of entry programmes, arguing that they are designed to “keep Canadians safe.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet members have boasted that Canada’s entry requirements are among the strictest in the world.
Canada’s new enhanced entry requirements, including the out-of-pocket hotel quarantine for incoming air passengers, came into effect on February 22.
Measures, including the hotel quarantine requirement, have been met with backlash, with some likening them to internment camps.
The Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) has said the hotel quarantine plan violated citizens’ rights to mobility and had indicated a willingness to challenge the measures in court.
Although the Canadian government is constitutionally prohibited from barring citizens from leaving the country, the Trudeau government has used the enhanced border security measures to discourage international travel amid the pandemic.
All entrants into Canada must complete a mandatory 14-day quarantine. As of March 25, 2020, Quarantine Act violators may be subject to a fine of up to 537,000 dollars and/or imprisonment for six months.
A review of Nigeria’s foreign affairs by the National Assembly will ensure all international engagements benefit the interest of the country and its citizens first.
Mr Yusuf Buba, Chairman of House Committee on Foreign Affairs disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.
Buba said that Nigeria would no longer develop policies that would not be beneficial to its national interest.
According to him, Nigeria has played the big brotherly roles, especially in Africa, without reciprocity and almost to self-disadvantage.
Henceforth, he said, there must be gains from whatever international engagements Nigeria would have with other countries.
The chairman cited the United States as a country that considers national interest first in all its engagements and interventions.
Presently, Buba said, the motion for the review of Nigeria’s foreign policy is on the floor of the House of Representatives and a stakeholders’ conference will be convened in March.
“At the conference, everybody will bring their expertise to the table to see that we review our foreign policy to be of more benefit to us.
“In the past, you will find out that we have centred our foreign policy on others mostly like a big brother.
“We want to take care of the interest of all Africans without really caring about what comes in on it and that is why you see us sending our troops to Liberia, to Sierra-Leone and other countries on peacekeeping where we lost a lot of lives.
“If you look at developing countries like the Americans, whenever they send out troops to a country, there must be some economic benefits that will come with it.
“They do not just put in their money without any economic benefit,’’ the lawmaker told NAN.
He said that this would no longer be like before where, after Nigeria had given its support, those countries would come back to treat Nigeria unfairly.
“So, we will not accept that type of foreign policy where you do well to a neighbour and he pays you back in a negative way.
“Therefore, we will look at it and make sure generally, the foreign policy will be to the good of Nigeria first before another.’’
Going forward, Buba said that there would be a frequent review of the nation’s foreign policy in line with changing circumstance.
He also called for the training of diplomats and more funding for the National Institute of International Affairs as well as the Foreign Academy, which comprises a lot of experts in international relations.
Buba said that would enable them to effectively review the nation’s foreign policy.
Athletes are being encouraged to get vaccinated against COVID-19 ahead of the Tokyo Olympics but it will not be compulsory, IOC Vice President John Coates said on Thursday.
“Not compulsory, we can’t do that,” Coates, head of the IOC’s Coordination Commission for the Tokyo Games, told reporters in Brisbane.
“But it is certainly being encouraged and the IOC has an agreement with COVAX where it’s helping to facilitate the distribution of vaccines.”
COVAX is the World Health Organisation’s global vaccine-sharing scheme.
IOC President Thomas Bach said last month it was up to national Olympic committees to coordinate with their governments over access to vaccines but he was not in favour of athletes “jumping the queue”.
With the delayed Games set to begin on July 23, Coates, who is also president of the Australian Olympic Committee, expected the country’s athletes to be vaccinated by June at “the latest”.
Australia began its vaccine roll-out this week.
Coates also said Japan’s government was expected to make a decision on how many fans could attend the Olympics by April.
Organisers hope to have spectators at the Games though speculation remains that the event might be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“A decision on all of the accredited people and all of those who have bought tickets in Japan will certainly be there,” he said.
“A final decision will be taken by the Japanese government, it’s governments that decide these things on what’s safe and, a bit later, probably March, April … a decision on what venue capacity we are going to have.”
Coates said officials had to make the Athletes Village and venues “the safest place in Tokyo”.
“Last week we had four days of operational planning, we are down now to looking at the seating on the buses to make sure there’s the correct distancing,” he said.
“Well that’s all very well, we suddenly need double the fleet of buses and there are a lot of buses involved.”
Following a clear warning by U.S. President Joe Biden’s nominee for Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) over China’s growing power, Beijing has urged the U.S. to reboot relations.
The Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, made the call on Thursday while responding to statements made the previous day by the incoming CIA chief William Burns.
Lijian said the previous U.S. administration had taken “repressive measures” over the past years, which had caused “inestimable damage” to the U.S.-China relations.
“Differences should be managed and bilateral relations should be put back on the right track of stability and development,” the spokesperson said.
Burns had told the Senate Intelligence Committee during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday that China was presenting the U.S. with its “biggest geopolitical test.”
“Out-competing the People’s Republic would be crucial for U.S. national security in the decades ahead,” Burns said.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has donated COVID-19 Protective equipment worth 14 million dollars to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The donation is the second batch of donation by the UNDP to ECOWAS to help the community in the fight against COVID-19.
Speaking at a ceremony to hand over the kits, Country Representative of the UNDP in Nigeria, Mohamed Yahya said that COVID-19 had adversely affected the vulnerable populations around the world and in Africa.
“As the second wave of the COVID-19 continues, UNDP remains committed to working with the government of Nigeria and on the occasion, ECOWAS, to ensure that we support with what is needed for the region to fight the pandemic.
“UNDP is proud to be able to provide through the procurement of 14 million dollars worth of essential medical supplies given to ECOWAS to enhance the capacity of frontline responders in the entire region.
“These medical supplies include more than 549,000 test kits.
“I would like to acknowledge that this support would not have been possible without the support of ECOWAS to ensure that UNDP continues to work with them.
“We have seen the leadership of ECOWAS on multiple occasions in supporting this region deal with this pandemic,” he said.
Receiving the kits, President of ECOWAS, Jean-Claude Brou expressed delight at the support by UNDP, recalling that in 2020 UNDP delivered the first batch of kits worth about eight million dollars.
Brou stressed that in the fight against COVID-19, the most important focus is to ensure that no one was left behind.
He, therefore, commended the UNDP for the support which he noted was part of efforts to ensure no one was left behind.
He assured that ECOWAS will ensure that that it would support countries in West Africa in accessing vaccine for Community Citizens.
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