Mrs Julie Okah-Donli NAPTIP D-G

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) on Tuesday said that 2,884 Lagos State indigenes were rescued from traffickers in the last 16 years.

The Director General of NAPTIP, Dame Julie Okah-Donli, disclosed this at the State House, Ikeja during the inauguration of the Lagos State Task Force on Human Trafficking.

According to her, 1,535 indigenes of Lagos State were rescued by NAPTIP and her partners, while International Organisation for Migration (IOM) returned 1,349 indigenes of Lagos from various parts of the world.

Okah-Donli said that almost all the states in Nigeria were affected by irregular migration and human trafficking.

However, Lagos State is endemic for trafficking of children and adults for domestic servitude, sexual exploitation in brothels, street begging and street trading, as well as other forms of exploitation because of the cosmopolitan nature of Lagos.

From 2004 to July 2020, a total of 1,535 indigenes of Lagos State have been rescued by NAPTIP and her partners, consisting of 1,324 females and 211 Males, mostly from Ikorodu, Ajeromi-Ifelodun, Agege, Alimosho, Eti-Osa, Epe and Badagry Local Government Areas.

These victims were mostly subjected to child labour, domestic servitude and sexual exploitation.

Significantly, between 2017 and 2020, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) returned 1,349 indigenes of Lagos from various parts of the world, especially Libya, Mali, Niger and parts of Europe. This comprised 1,180 females and 169 males, she said.

According to her, in the year 2020 alone, in spite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, NAPTIP rescued a total number of 18 indigenes of Lagos State from traffickers, comprising of 16 females and two males.

Okah-Donli said that another worrying trend was the trafficking of young Nigerian women to the Middle East, especially Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE.

She said that between March and August 2020, NAPTIP facilitated the repatriation of 355 young women from domestic and sexual servitude in Lebanon, out of whom, six were indigenes of Lagos state, while 42 others were resident in Lagos.

The NAPTIP boss said that the repatriation was in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nigerian Embassy in Lebanon, Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, Diaspora Commission, National Emergency Management Agency and IOM.

She said that the problem of human trafficking and irregular migration had become of great national concern especially with the large number of Nigerians trapped in sexual and labour exploitation in various African and European countries.

Okah-Donli said that the number was a part from the hundreds that continued to die in the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea.

She said that in 2019, reports emerged about human farms in some parts of Libya where black African migrants were allegedly kept in cages like animals and organs like eyes, kidneys and lungs were harvested to service the medical sectors of Europe.

According to her, in December 2018, NAPTIP undertook a Fact-Finding Mission to Mali.

The report of the mission painted a very gory picture of more than 20,000 young Nigerian girls who are victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation in bush camps around Malis mine fields.

In the first week of March 2019, I personally followed up with a visit to Mali and my worst fears were confirmed.

Human Trafficking represents a clear and present danger to human and national security which must be addressed boldly and frontally, she said.

Source: NAN News

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo

By Chijioke Okoronkwo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says there is need for the relevant ministers and stakeholders to expedite action on the plan adopted to mitigate the effect of COVID-19 disruptions on the economy.

Osinbajos spokesman, Laolu Akande, said the vice president made the call while presenting an overview of the Economic Sustainability Plan(ESP) at a 2-day First Year Ministerial Performance Review Retreat at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja.

He said even though the Federal Government had commenced the implementation of the N2.3 trillion stimulus package, the economic distortions and hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic required urgent action.

The retreat was organised for Ministers, Permanent Secretaries and top government functionaries.

We are already in Day 67 since the plan; nothing is going to happen by magic, we have to simply do this stuff.

We got to ensure that we have the money and ensure that day by day, we are measuring our achievements and trying to ensure that we do the things that we need to do.

And we simply are not favoured by time, every single day the poverty situation and the economic distortions deepen.

According to Osinbajo, everybody recognises that the only way out of the present problem is to ensure that production is funded, consumer spending enabled so that people can go and buy things; thereby putting money in peoples hands.

The vice president said that the Mass Agriculture Programme was envisaged to engage many farmers.

So far, we have enumerated at least four million farmers; these are farmers, who are tied to their land and we have the geo-statistics that shows where their land is and we have about four million of them.

And we expect that, with each state contributing acreage for farming, we will be able to do significant numbers; the ESP is designed in such a way that in each one of the programmes, we are engaging as many Nigerians as possible.

The expected outcome for Agriculture, even if each farmer employs an additional person, this will result in an additional 4 million jobs and even more jobs along the value chain; we also will be looking at developing rural roads to reduce post-harvest losses.

Then guaranteed off-take of the produce; the way the programme is designed is that, we have anchor farmers who are big farmers; they engage several thousands of farmers and they ensure that these farmers have all of their requirements and they guarantee the off-take of their produce.

We have done the survey and it is very evident that so long as there is funding, we will be able to do this programme.

He said that under the Mass Housing Programme, 300, 000 homes would be built across the country.

The vice president said that efforts were being made to ensure that the price of those homes did not exceed N2 million.

On the MSMEs and Solar Power components of the plan, Osinbajo said they were also focused on creating jobs.

The vice president said that under the ESP, agriculture required N637.2 billion funding and would provide 5,000,000 jobs.

The Solar power project funding requirement is N152.4 billion is expected to provide 250,000 jobs.

The Mass Housing programme with a funding requirement of N217.3 billion is expected to create 1,500,000 jobs; while Public Works funding is N52 billion to provide 774,000 jobs: and N100 billion is required to provide 500, 000 jobs in the SMEs.

I think that if we are able to implement this faithfully, if we are able to ensure that we bring in the resources, then we certainly will be able to turn around, the economic fortunes of Nigeria.

The truth is that, if you look at stimulus packages all over the world, what has happened is that, in many economies that have been able to lessen the impact of COVID-19, the funds have been provided and they have been provided at great pains, he said.

Source: NAN News

NSE

By Chinyere Joel-Nwokeoma

Trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) maintained negative mood on Tuesday with the All-Share Index losing 0.33 per cent, amid sell pressure in banking equities.

Specifically, the NSE All-Share which opened at 25,582.23 lost 84.91 points or 0.33 per cent to close at 25,497.32.

Similarly, the market capitalisation shed N44 billion or 0.33 per cent to close at N13.301 trillion against N13.345 trillion posted on Monday.

The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Guaranty Trust Bank, Guinness, Zenith Bank, Union Bank of Nigeria and Arbico.

Consequently, the market breadth closed negative with 10 gainers in contrast with 19 losers.

Arbico led the laggards chart in percentage terms, losing 9.65 per cent to close at N1.03 per share.

Royal Exchange followed with a loss of 9.09 per cent to close at 30k, while Guaranty Trust Bank shed 6.18 per cent to close at N24.30 per share.

Japaul Oil dipped 4.76 per cent to close at 20k, while union Bank shed 3.92 per cent each to close at N4.90 per share.

On the other hand, Honeywell Flour Mill dominated the gainers chart in percentage terms, gaining 4.44 per cent to close at 94k per share.

Transcorp followed with 3.45 per cent to close at 60k, while Wapic Insurance increased by 3.03 per cent to close at 34k per share.

Chemical and Allied Products grew by 2.65 per cent to close at N17.45, while Nigerian Breweries chalked up 2.50 per cent to close at N41 per share.

Transactions in the shares of Custodian Investment topped the activity chart with 40.13 million shares valued at N192.65 million.

FBN Holdings came second with 28.24 million shares worth N141.54 million, while Zenith Bank traded 26.05 million shares valued at N444.79 million.

Access Bank sold 25.06 million shares worth N170.11 million, while Transcorp transacted 19.03 million shares worth N11.21 million.

In all, the total volume of shares traded dipped 1.18 per cent with an exchange of 251.96 million shares valued at N2.04 billion in 4,185 deals.

This was against a total of 254.97 million shares worth N2.0 billion exchanged in 4,699 deals.

Source: NAN News

Babajide Sanwo- olu, Lagos state governor

By Florence Onuegbu

The Lagos State Government, through the Lagos State Electricity Board (LSEB), says it is providing solar power to 172 public secondary schools and 11 public health centres (PHCS).

The Director-General of LSEB, Mr Mukhtaar Tijani, made this known during a news briefing on Tuesday in Ikeja.

Tijani said that the increasing energy demand in the state due to expanded civilisation and increase in population had led to concerns over the limited energy resources.

He said that the focus of the government was on a sustainable energy supply which entailed optimised use of energy to minimise pollution.

According to him, the government is committed to transforming the citys electricity landscape and make it the pride of the nation and Africa as a whole.

The approach to achieving the 2030 target on Sustainable Development Goal 7 which emphasises affordable and clean energy in the state has been captured in the developmental agenda of the present administration.

The making of Lagos a 21st Century Economy entails enhancing and facilitating access to clean energy technology including renewable energy, as well as advanced and cleaner fossil-fuel energy for the state.

Part of the effort to improve the energy mix is the Lagos Solar Project which is an initiative that is focused on implementing stand-alone solar power solutions for public facilities.

This project is currently providing solar power to 172 public secondary schools and 11 public health centres (PHCS), he said.

Tijani said that while the solar components were currently undergoing routine maintenance, the aim is to deliver additional solar systems to rural, riverine and public secondary schools located within the rural areas.

He said that at present, Lagos State Electricity Board managed over 1,300 kilometers of public lighting across the state.

The Director-General said that in a bid to ensure that Lagos streets continued to enjoy improved public lighting at night, the board had intensified maintenance and surveillance of major access/link roads that serve communities.

He said that this was an assurance to Lagosians of quick response time to complaints on street lights in different parts of the state.

Tijani said that effective measures were taken in the rejuvenation of public lighting in Lagos.

He said that some of the measures included replacement of non-functional street lights, rehabilitation of others and an introduction of LED lights.

In addition to this, the state will in no distant time embark on the retrofitting of street lights from High Pressure Sodium Bulb (HPS) to Light Emitting Diode (LED).

This initiative is an energy efficiency scheme that will advance the street lightening project of the state.

While a sustainable energy future requires structural reform and the facilitation of technology transfer, the four pillars of development economic, political, social and the environment must be considered during policy formulation.

This is because sustainable energy resources must be economically viable, politically supported, socially equitable and environmentally acceptable, the LSEB boss said.

He said that the board would conduct energy audit for facilities across the state with the aim of developing comprehensive master plan that would serve as blueprint towards investment in energy infrastructure and clean energy technology.

Tijani said that this procedure was expedient as it provided the opportunity to assess the current energy level and needs of the state.

According to him, this will provide means of expanding the capacity to meet the desired needs as it will cut across all sectors of the state.

The first phase of this exercise has been completed at state-owned healthcare facilities, educational institutions, waste management facilities, parks, water works, sports, theatres and cinemas across the five divisions of Lagos.

We would not be limiting the audit to government and public facilities as the strategy is to incorporate the private sector to harmonise all energy sources in the state and have an inclusive management plan that will cater for future expansion, he said.

Source: NAN News

Gov. Douye Diri

By Shedrack Frank

Bayelsa House of Assembly has screened and confirmed two more Commissioner nominees, and three other appointees to serve as Chairman and members of the states Local Government Service Commission.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the house during its plenary on Tuesday accessed the capability and past records of the appointees forwarded to it by Gov. Douye Diri.

Those confirmed included; Mr Keme Warebi and Erasmus Patrick as Commissioner designates.

While Mr Lambert Ototo, Odudu Awipi and Cleopas Carter, were confirmed as Chairman and member of the state local government service commission.

Speaking during the screening, Mrs Ebiuwou Koku Obiyai (PDP Yenagoa constituency ll) and Wisdom Fafi, (PDP Kolokuma/Opokuma constituency l) urged the appointees to key into the vision of Diris administration and work to uplift Bayelsa. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Oluwabunmi Amao, Director-General, Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC)

By Taiye Olayemi

The Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC) on Tuesday called for an end to all forms of slavery, servitude, racism, prejudice, racial discrimination and social injustice.

Its Director-General, Oluwabunmi Amao, made the call during a public lecture organised in commemoration of the 2020 UNESCO International Day for Remembrance of Slave Trade and its Abolition.

The webinar public lecture was tagged: Contemporary Enslavement and its Implications for Africas Development.

Amao said that countries must consciously desist from such vices to affirm the universal principles of human dignity, freedom, and equality.

We wish to call on the global community to stand and work against all forms of slavery, servitude, racism, prejudice, racial discrimination and social injustice.

CBAAC wishes to use this platform to condemn in the strongest terms, recent surge in racism against blacks and people of African descent across the globe that tends to suggest the superiority of one race over another.

It is indeed a reality that slavery did not end with the abolition in the 19th century, instead, it changed its forms and continued to harm people in Africa and other parts of the world.

It is instructive to note that today, slavery is less about people literally owning other people, although that still exists.

But more about being exploited, decimated and completely controlled by someone else, without being able to leave, hence the need for awareness on the matter as a sure way for its eradication, she said.

Also, Dr Adetunji Ogunyemi, Head, Department of History, Obafemi Awolowo University, urged African leaders to grow viable and formidable economies capable of setting the youths free from modern enslavement.

He said that modern enslavement was a general menace in Africa which needed to be curtailed promptly due to the numerous havoc it had wrecked across African continent.

He noted that the major solution to this problem was for the African leaders to consciously create viable economies which would provide numerous job opportunities to the citizens.

The implications of modern enslavement are: total loss in African persona; depopulation and loss of skilled personnel to menial jobs abroad; disease contraction and spread; forced prostitution; forced organ harvest, death and total dehumanisation.

Modern enslavement was caused by poverty, human trafficking, greed, ignorance, unemployment, failure of governance, war, political instability and lots more reasons.

People are suffering from different forms of enslavement and mental enslavement can be dealt with by practising Godliness rather than being religious, also embracing science and neglect superstition, likewise get informed, he said.

Ogunyemi urged countries dominant in modern enslavement to desist from such.

He noted that domestic sex factory and construction enslavements as well as organ harvest and farm work were rampant in the affected countries.

Also, Dr philip Afaha, Head, Department of History and Diplomatic Studies, University of Abuja, said that mental, economic and ideological enslavements affected Nigerians directly.

He said this was obvious considering the activities of religious leaders, job vendors, housemaid contractors and all.

Religious leaders and native doctors play major roles in encouraging enslavement in Nigeria with the subject-master relationship they encourage between themselves and their members.

Government is also guilty here when people will be employed and they will be deprived of their salaries at month end, this is seen with some state governments.

African governments must begin to frown at obtaining foreign loans,this is also another form of enslavement; Nigerian security operatives must also learn to use social media for intelligence purposes, he said.

Mr Daniel Atokolo, Lagos Zonal Commander, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), said that the agency had not relented in fulfilling its mandate.

Atokolo, represented by Nosa Mamman-Odey, a NAPTIP official, noted that the agency was working unanimously with some other organisations to rescue victims of slavery from other countries and empower them to be re-integrated back into the society. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Priscilla Osaje

Temi Otedola, daughter of billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola, says shes excited about her acting debut in an emotional movie, Citation.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the star- studded movie, which happened to be a teaser of Otedolas first feature movie, was directed by Kunle Afolayan.

Temi played a role in a character as Moremi Oluwa in the movie Citation which also featured prominent artistes.

Temi, who said she was so excited and overfilled with gratitude over her first debut, took to her Instagram page @temiotedola to make the announcement to her fans.

I cant believe this day is here. I can officially share the first teaser for #CitationTheMovie

This day is an emotional one for so many reasons. As many of you already know Citation is my debut feature film, and is directed by the legendary @kunleafo, someone who I have been a fan of since Figurine.

He not only trusted me to bring Moremi Oluwa to life, but also my Citation Family, made up of the most wonderful and supportive cast and crew members. For that trust, my heart is overfilled with gratitude right now.

We put so much sweat, tears and sleepless nights into the movie, and I hope you guys will love it as much as this experience changed my life.

Enjoy this teaser, get ready for the full thing, she wrote.

NAN also reports that the movie Citation discussed about sexual harassment, which passed a powerful message to the society.

Source: NAN News

PDP and APC logo

By Omuboye Sukubo

Mr Ojukaye Flagg-Amachree, a chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers, has denied defecting to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Flagg-Amachree told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, that a publication on his alleged defection was unfortunate and the handiwork of quack journalists.

First of all, the publication is unfortunate because for me, I think there is what is called investigative journalism and I expected any good editor to balance his or her story.

For any editor to feature an important news as he did, I expected such editor to reach the other party more especially when it has to do with a state politician to ascertain it.

If the editor fails to do that, then he or she is a quack editor, and in this case, I have called the editor to retract whatever he wrote in his paper because its not true.

This is because I have a lot to focus on and the PDP is not part of it at all, he said.

The two time chairman of Asari-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers, urged APC members in the state to remain focused and steadfast.

The truth of the matter is, politics and life is all about expansion and contraction, and this is the moment we need to test our fate, level of loyalty and focus.

2023 is just beside the corner and I am very convinced that APC is going to take back the state.

So, I urge my supporters and APC members to endure and be focused to takeover the state, he added.

A local tabloid, Port Harcourt Weekly Watch, had in its publication on Sept. 7 on its front page said, Ojukaye set to defect to PDP.

Flagg-Amachree was elected as State Chairman of APC along with other executive members in 2018, but the election was nullified by a Rivers High Court. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Tokyo Olympics

Speaking at a news conference, Hashimoto said the Games should be held for the benefit of the athletes, regardless of the challenges posed by the novel Coronavirus pandemic.

The Japanese government and the International Olympic Committee took the unprecedented decision in March to postpone the Games, originally scheduled to begin in July, until 2021 because of the virus.

Everyone involved with the Games is working together to prepare, and the athletes are also making considerable efforts toward next year, Hashimoto said during a news conference.

I think we have to hold the Games at any cost, she added.

I want to concentrate all our efforts on measures against the Coronavirus.

Officials from the Japanese government, local Tokyo government and the Olympics organising committee met for the first time last week to develop steps to counter Coronavirus at the Games.

In an interview with Reuters in July, Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto said organisers were preparing to host the Games next year even if the global Coronavirus pandemic hasnt eased substantially.

Organisers are looking at over 200 proposals on how best to deal with the virus, including easing travel restrictions for foreign athletes, anti-virus measures at the Athletes Village and how to handle spectators.

During his regular press briefing on Tuesday, Tokyo 2020 Spokesman, Masa Takaya was not as bullish as Hashimoto about next years Games but said things were moving in the right direction.

Organisers were encouraged that sports events were being held successfully around the world in recent months and that there was the possibility of more fans being allowed into stadiums for Japanese baseball and soccer games, he added.

This has been a big, big encouragement for the staff members of Tokyo 2020, said Takaya.

We feel that is another step toward .where we can see sports in action in our society. (Reuters/NAN)

Source: NAN News

Muhammad Babandede, CG Nigeria Immigration Service

By Ibironke Ariyo
The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) INTERPOL i-24/7 desk has successfully uploaded 150, 000 Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (STLD) to INTERPOL Global System (IPSG) in Lyon, France seamlessly.

The Service spokesman, Mr Sunday James, disclosed this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.

James said that INTERPOL i-24/7 was a major system supporting arm manned by officers of the NIS at the unit in the Service Headquarters.

He said that the Comptroller General, NIS, Mr Muhammad Babandede was updated in a brief on the development by the team in view of the report received of the success so far.

He added that the Nigerian SLTD detection and tracking system domiciled at the NIS Headquarters has successfully yielded result and worth appreciating by Nigerians and the global Community.

This is an effort put in place by the Service team to rid the world of attempts and deliberate acts leading to identity theft, frauds and other organised crimes perpetrated globally using SLTD.

This integration according to INTERPOL POLICE GLOBAL SYSTEM (IPSG) is the first in Africa and 54th in the World.

By implication, this feat has enabled Nigeria to upload 150,000 SLTD to IPSG-Lyon, France through a secure channel on Monday 7 Sept. 2020.

This success was achieved with the immense support of the Interpol Global System (IPSG) United States National Central Bureau (USNCB) Washington, National Central Bureau (NCB) Abuja and the NIS team.

The successful integration and uploading of such quantity of Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) among member nations on the Interpol Global System (IPSG) was worth recognising he said.

Source: NAN News