Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia on Monday said lack of vision and underhand dealings by past leaders hindered Benue State from benefiting the Federal Government 13 percent derivation from solid minerals found in the state.
The governor made this known while addressing Benue diaspora community on a zoom meeting organised by the Mutual Union of Tiv in America (MUTA) and the Idoma Association in the United States of America.
He said meeting was to enable the two groups get firsthand information on the present administration’s general policy direction, security initiatives as well as the government’s drive in sectors such as agriculture, Mining, education, health, Banking and Finance as well as physical and digital infrastructure.
Speaking on the mining/extractive industry, the governor said although the state is blessed with mineral deposits, the mining sector remains one area that has not been properly tapped, adding that there was no coordination in the past, thereby allowing huge illegality in the sector.
Alia said, “It is only when we came in on May 29th, 2023 that we made the Benue people realize they have solid minerals.
“Is it that they never existed before we came in? No, they were there. But those who knew; those who were robbing us came in there and carted away what they wanted.
“It is so surprising to hear that it is our very own who were robbing us of the solid minerals. They knew the solid minerals existed there and invited the bad guys who came in behind closed those to rob us.”
The governor in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Tersoo Kula which was made available to newsmen in Makurdi, said the state government had placed a moratorium on Mining activities in the state in order to fish out the illegal miners, adding that traditional rulers have been warned not to sign MOUs with the miners as was obtainable in the past.
He said anyone found engaging aging foreigners who come from nowhere to start mining in the villages will not be spared.
He regretted that Benue as a state with 34 out of the 46 mineral deposits found in the country is not enjoying the 13 percent derivation like oil producing states because of lack of coordination.
According to the governor, the need for coordination in the sector is what gave birth to the Mineral Resources and Environmental Management Committee (MIREMCO) under his administration.
This he said will serve as a link between the state and the Federal Government in the area of policy and tackling of illegal mining, thereby protecting such solid minerals for the government and people of the state.
Speaking on the educational sector and the strategies the government has put in place to bridge the gap between the private and government institutions in the state, and on how he feel religious based organizations and private organizations can invest in the education system in the state, the governor said, “What was on ground upon my assumption of office was terrible.
“We met the Benue system in comatose but that of education was even worse and we are just trying to reinvent our educational system with the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) already geared with programmes to reinvent the educational sector in the state.”
He said his administration has created an agency, Benue Education Quality Assurance (BEQA) through which many discoveries.
“The schools are so saturated with ghost teachers, and the system is saturated with ghost schools.
“Immediately we came into office, we were able to save N1.2billion from ghost teachers.
“We went further and it was discovered that it was not only ghost teachers, but ghost schools as well.
“And the least we found was that the ghost schools had 95 ghost teachers and the minimum Grade level of the teachers in those schools was Grade level 10.
“Just imagine how much they packed! And if we unveil to you those who have been involved in this corrupt system, you will be so shocked to hear names. Yet, this had been going on and on for ages.”
While calling for investment in the educational system in the state, the governor said his administration intends to go back to the basics by granting independence to missionary schools, reintroducing more vocational centres across the state to enable the students acquire skills, as well as intensifying training for the teachers.
On Security, Peace and Wealth Creation as well as his plans for the return of the IDPs to their ancestral homes, Alia said the state has about 13 IDP camps and his campaign promises of returning them to their ancestral homes still stands, adding that his administration is making inroads to address the situation.
On whether the people have started returning back to their ancestral homes, the governor said that has not happened permanently but there is an improvement.
He said the security situation in the state is a combination of both herders and militia groups, especially in the Sankera axis of the state, accusing some elite of inviting the Fulanis back to the state with the notion that the Anti-Open Grazing law is no longer in force.
He called for more collaboration, partnership and investments to enable the government to revamp the Primary Health Care Centres and Clinics in the villages so that healthcare services can be easily accessed by the people of the state.
On Banking and Finance, the governor highlighted the need to drive the Banking Sector in the state, lamenting the absence of Benue indigenes in top banking positions in the country.
He said the state is suffering from the collapse of Lobi Bank, especially as it was aimed at helping local farmers and businesses to thrive, disclosing that the government is trying to see if there will be an alternative.
“Benue is near empty in this regard. There are no investments in the Banking Sector in the state at the moment.
“It is a challenge. Even to get loans, our people are not properly educated in this regard. And we need individuals who can come in and teach our people,” he stated.
While regretting that most big towns in the state don’t have banks, the governor said it is the plan of the present government to take the Novus Microfinance Bank to be in villages, where certain government grants can be obtained through the bank by the time it is properly set up.
On digital and physical infrastructural development in the state, Alia equally told the Benue Diaspora that immediately he came into office, he declared, “There was no maintenance on the few existing ones that were put in place.
“It is now that our government is doing everything to turn Makurdi from a glorified village to a Capital City.
“The government is doing very deep investments in lighting and road infrastructure to ensure that what is done lasts for a long time.
The parliamentary logjam that had stalled the legislation for two months was finally broken just after midnight when the unelected House of Lords “recognised the primacy” of the elected House of Commons and dropped the last of its proposed amendments, clearing the way for the bill to become law.
Earlier in the day, Sunak held a rare morning press conference to demand that the Lords stop blocking his key proposal for ending the tide of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats, promising that both houses of Parliament would remain in session until it was approved.
The legislative stalemate was just the latest hurdle to delay implementation of a plan that has been repeatedly blocked by a series of court rulings and opposition from human rights activists who say it is illegal and inhumane. Migrant advocates have vowed to continue the fight against it.
“For almost two years, our opponents have used every trick in the book to block fights and keep the boats coming,” Sunak told reporters Monday morning in London. “But enough is enough. No more prevarication, no more delay.”
The government plans to deport to Rwanda some of those who enter the United Kingdom illegally as a deterrent to migrants who risk their lives in leaky, inflatable boats in hopes that they will be able to claim asylum once they reach Britain.
Despite Parliament's approval of the legislation, further court challenges may still delay the deportation flights, said Tim Bale, a politics professor at Queen Mary University of London.
“I don’t think it is necessarily home and dry,” he said. “We will see some attempts to block deportations legally.”
Sunak has staked his political future to the deportation flights, making a pledge to “stop the boats” a key part of his pitch to voters as opinion polls show that his Conservative Party trails far behind the Labour Party ahead of a general election later this year.
Next week’s local elections are seen as a barometer for how the parties will fare in the general election.
The debate in Britain comes as countries throughout Western Europe and North America look for ways to slow the rising number of migrants as war, climate change and political oppression force people from their homes.
Small boat crossings are a potent political issue in Britain, where they are seen as evidence of the government’s failure to control immigration.
The number of migrants arriving in Britain on small boats soared to 45,774 in 2022 from just 299 four years earlier as people seeking refuge pay criminal gangs thousands of pounds (dollars) to ferry them across the channel.
Last year, small boat arrivals dropped to 29,437 as the government cracked down on people smugglers and reached an agreement to return Albanians to their home country.
“I think the most important takeaway is quite how desperate the government clearly is to get this piece of legislation through on the grounds that it will enable it to at least make a down payment on its promise to stop the boats,” Bale said.
While Sunak acknowledged that he wouldn’t meet his original deadline of getting the first deportation flights in the air this spring, he blamed the delays on continued resistance from the opposition Labour Party.
On Monday, Sunak said the first flights would take off in 10-12 weeks but refused to provide details about how many people would be deported or exactly when the flights would occur because he said that information could help opponents continue to try to frustrate the policy.
In preparation for the bill’s approval, the government has already chartered planes for the deportation flights, increased detention space, hired more immigration caseworkers and freed up court space to handle appeals, Sunak said.
He also suggested the government was prepared to ignore the European Court of Human Rights if it sought to block the deportations.
“We are ready, plans are in place, and these flights will go come what may,” Sunak said. “No foreign court will stop us from getting flights off.”
The current legislation, known as the Safety of Rwanda Bill, is a response to a UK Supreme Court decision that blocked the deportation flights because the government couldn’t guarantee the safety of migrants sent to Rwanda.
After signing a new treaty with Rwanda to beef up protections for migrants, the government proposed the new legislation declaring Rwanda to be a safe country.
The bill has been stalled in the idiosyncrasies of the British legislative system. The House of Lords is charged with scrutinising and offering amendments to measures approved by the House of Commons, but it doesn’t have the power to block legislation outright.
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As a result, the Rwanda bill bounced back and forth between the two houses of Parliament, with the Lords repeatedly offering amendments only for them to be rejected by the Commons, which then sent the legislation back to the upper house.
Critics of the government’s policy refused to be drawn on their next move. James Wilson, the director of Detention Action, which campaigns against human rights abuses in the immigration system, urged the public to look past the political stalemate and remember what is at stake.
“Ultimately, the most important points here are not the ins and outs of Parliament, and the things that are happening there,'' he told The Associated Press. "In the end, this is about people. This is about people’s lives.”
Crime › . by God1000(op): 7:35pm On Apr 22, 2024*. Modified: 12:00am On Apr 23, 2024
The Nigerian Army, on Monday, said it has dismissed two soldiers, Corporal Innocent Joseph, and Lance Corporal Jacob Gani, accused of stealing armoured cables at the Dangote refinery on April 14, 2024.
The PUNCH had reported how the soldiers entered the facility in an Acura jeep but were caught at the company’s main gate with 897 armoured cables that had been cut to size.
Dream25: If the above is all you can say, then something is definitely wrong... You think Nicaragua, Cuba are not ready to hold Russia nuclear weapon??..
ask Nicaragua and Cuba first, but I don't think they are ready for such thing
Poland is ready to host nuclear arms if NATO decides to deploy the weapons in the face of Russia reinforcing its armaments in Belarus and Kaliningrad, President Andrzej Duda said in an interview published Monday.
Poland, a NATO member and staunch supporter of Ukraine, shares a border with both Russia's Kaliningrad exclave and with Belarus, Moscow's ally.
If our allies decide to deploy nuclear arms on our territory as part of nuclear sharing, to reinforce NATO's eastern flank, we are ready to do so," Duda said in an interview published by the Fakt daily.
Moscow in response warned it would take steps to "ensure its security" if Warsaw got the weapons.
Duda spoke to the Polish media after a visit to New York, where he held meetings at the U.N. and discussed the war in Ukraine with former US president Donald Trump.
In March, he visited Washington, where he met with President Biden.
Discussions about nuclear cooperation between Poland and the United States have been ongoing "for some time," he said.
"I have already talked about this several times. I must admit that, when asked about it, I declared our readiness," Duda said.
"Russia is increasingly militarizing Kaliningrad. Recently it has been relocating its nuclear weapons to Belarus," he added.
The Kremlin said it would respond if Poland hosted nuclear weapons.
The military will of course analyse the situation and in any case will take all necessary response steps in order to ensure our security," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
In June 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that Russia had sent tactical nuclear arms to Belarus, which borders Ukraine and Poland.
During the last NATO summit in Vilnius, the allies pledged to "take all necessary steps to ensure the credibility, effectiveness, safety and security of the nuclear deterrent mission."
misreal: So wat other factors contribute to this great support Israel gets from Israel.
The Jewish people have a lot of political power in US.
Religious groups are two other critically important factors. American Jews and evangelical Christians are two of the most politically engaged groups in the United States. They're major constituencies respectively, in the Democratic and Republican parties. And both are overwhelmingly pro-Israel.
Jashub: How does this information change the poverty in your country . Learn to mind your business and perhaps God will change your destiny
You can as well post about Nigeria all day and night, maybe doing so will change the poverty and your destiny, we all should mind our own business and allow people that need the information to read it Mr busybody.
The United States and Israel have the largest Jewish populations worldwide, with approximately 6.9 million and 6 million respectively. These two countries alone account for about 86% of the total global Jewish population. Europe, predominantly France, the United Kingdom, and Germany, also hosts a significant portion of the Jewish community.
1. Israel 6.9M 2. United States 6.0M 3. France 446.0K 4. Canada 393.5K 5. United Kingdom 292.0K 6. Argentina 175.0K 7. Russia 150.0K 8. Germany 118.0K 9. Australia 118.0K 10. Brazil 91.5K 11. South Africa 52.0K 12. Hungary 47.0K 13. Ukraine 43.0K 14. Mexico 40.0K 15. Netherlands 30.0K 16. Belgium 29.0K 17. Italy 27.0K 18. Switzerland18.5K 19. Chile 16.0K 20. Uruguay 16.0K 21. Sweden 15.0K 22. Turkey 14.5K 23. Spain 13.0K 24. Austria 10.0K 25. Panama 10.0K
An Israeli airstrike in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah late Friday, killed nine people, six of them children, according to hospital authorities Saturday.
Another overnight Israeli air assault struck the city of 2.3 million people bordering with Egypt and currently hosting more than a million refugees from other parts of the enclave devastated by the Israeli offensive.
The international community has called for Israel’s restraint on Rafah, and so far, Israel has not acted on its threats to launch an offensive on the city. It has not backed off its original position, however, that it intends to carry out a military offensive there. Israel maintains many of the remaining Hamas militants are holed up there.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday during a news conference at the G7 meeting in Italy that the Biden administration "cannot support a major military operation in Rafah."
Blinken also said that “inevitably” a major military operation on the city would have "terrible consequences" for the civilians remaining there.
"First, there are currently somewhere around 1.4 million people in Rafah many of them displaced from other parts of Gaza. It's imperative that people are able to get out of the way of any conflict, and doing so is a monumental task for which we have yet to see a plan," the top U.S. diplomat underscored.
In central Gaza another strike hit a house in the urban refugee camp of Bureji, killing at least one man and injuring two others, according to authorities at the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah. An Associated Press journalist witnessed the casualties.
The bodies of 37 people killed by Israeli strikes Saturday were brought to hospitals in Gaza. Another 68 injured persons were admitted to hospitals over the past 24 hours, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said Saturday.
The latest figures bring the overall Palestinian death toll from the Israel-Hamas war to at least 34,049, and the number of wounded to 76,901. Two thirds of the overall numbers have been children and women, according to the Hamas-run health authorities.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Istanbul on Saturday, to discuss efforts for a cease-fire in Gaza and the delivery of humanitarian aid there, Turkish state broadcaster TRT reported.
The United Arab Emirates said Friday it had launched a major relief operation in the Gaza Strip's destroyed city of Khan Younis and plans to restore the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis so that it "can return to work," the WAM news agency said.
But the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs said more needs to be done. The fighting, destruction of roads and prevalence of unexploded ordinance pose significant risks for humanitarian workers struggling to provide aid supplies in Gaza, it reported Friday.
Recent U.N.-led missions into 10 of Gaza's beleaguered hospitals found many "in ruins" with only a few barely carrying out any level of maternal health services and with their vital medical equipment purposefully destroyed, according to Dominic Allen, the U.N. Population Fund representative for the State of Palestine.
Palestinian U.N. membership The Palestinian Authority will reconsider bilateral relations with the U.S. after Washington vetoed a Palestinian request for full United Nations membership earlier this week, President Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview Saturday with the official WAFA news agency.
Tehran denounced Friday the U.S. veto Thursday blocking full United Nations membership for Palestinians and called it "irresponsible" given the lack of opposition from any other Security Council member.
Hamas also decried the decision, while the Palestinian Authority said it showed "the contradictions of American policy," which claims to support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but at the same time "prevents the implementation of this solution."
On Thursday evening, the United States cast a veto at the Security Council to block the United Nations from recognizing a Palestinian state. The United Kingdom and Switzerland abstained, and the remaining 12 council members voted yes.
Israel launched its offensive in response to the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures. Militants also took about 250 people as hostages.
In November, more than 100 hostages were released as part of a four-day pause in the fighting. Israel says about 130 hostages remain in captivity, but one-quarter of them are dead. Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., U.K., EU and others.
Police had earlier said the Florida man was being viewed as ‘sort of a conspiracy theorist’.
A man who set himself on fire outside the New York court where former United States President Donald Trump is on trial has died after suffering serious injuries, police said.
On Saturday, the New York City police department said the man, identified as Max Azzarello of St Augustine, Florida, was declared dead at a local hospital where he was taken for treatment after the incident on Friday.
Police said the man, who was born in 1987, did not appear to be targeting Trump or others involved in the trial.
During the incident, which took place on Friday, the fourth day of Trump’s trial on criminal charges of falsifying business records, Azzarello threw pamphlets in the air before using an alcohol-based cleaning substance to douse himself and light the fire.
Police had said earlier that he was being viewed “as sort of a conspiracy theorist”.
Trump, the first former US president to face criminal charges, is on trial in connection with hush-money payments he allegedly made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Many police officers were present at the scene on Friday as part of the extensive security precautions to ensure the safety of the trial.
Journalists from across the world were also waiting outside the court, and some were live on air when Azzarello self-immolated.
Police had said the man had not breached any security checkpoints to access the park across from the court, and that he had recently travelled from Florida to New York.
Authorities said following the incident that they are reviewing security protocols and considering shutting down access to the park where Azzarello set himself ablaze. The side street where Trump enters and leaves the building is off-limits to everyone.
Lol, some hard truth here, for once I wholeheartedly agree with this man, without USA Israel cannot fight a regional power like Iran that is capable of obliterating the entire Israel with its huge conventional arsenal, but I want de-escalation at this point, Iran should not bother sending more missiles, the world knows the truth and the aggressor
My concern right now is that oil prices are going up following these attacks, a war between Iran and Israel will devastate global economy
Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has mocked Israel over its attack on Iran.
Fani-Kayode claimed Israel’s three little micro quadcopters were shot down mid-air, adding that it did not even have the guts to claim responsibility for them.
DAILY POST reported that US officials confirmed that Israel retaliated against Iran’s missiles and drone attack on its territory.
The officials, according to the Guardian UK, said Israel carried out military operations against Iran but did not describe those operations.
However, Fani-Kayode questioned Israel’s touted power and strength.
He said: “Poor little Israel. Sent three little micro quadcopters which were shot down in mid-air and did not even have the guts to claim responsibility for them.
“Is that what you call a strong military response to Iran? Where is your much-touted power and strength?
“I guess you are only good at slaughtering innocent and defenceless women and children in Gaza.
“When faced with the prospect of a full-scale war with Iran you tucked your little Jewish tails between your legs and ran away. It is pitiful.
The Biden administration is clearly taking side with these sanctions instead of helping to de-escalate the situation, so much double standard and hypocrisy
Iran threatened to “review” its nuclear doctrine on Thursday if Israel launches an attack on its nuclear sites.
“A review of our nuclear doctrine and politics as well as considerations previously communicated is entirely possible,” Iran’s nuclear security chief Ahmad Haghtalab was quoted saying by Tasnim news.
Iran could launch “powerful missiles to destroy designated targets” in Israel, warning the Israeli government that any hit on its nuclear sites would mean retaliations.
Our hands are on the trigger,” he said. Iran has previously denied seeking nuclear weapons, but its nuclear programme has advanced rapidly since Donald Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018.
It’s estimated that Iran could develop nuclear weapons within days should it decide to.
Israel has long warned that it is ready to use military force to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, but it’s believed a successful attack on its nuclear sites would need assistance from the U.S., as Israel doesn’t have the bunker buster bombs needed to penetrate underground facilities.
US imposes new sanctions on Iran after attack on Israel
In response to its missile and drone attack on Israel, as tensions mount over the possibility of further escalation in the Middle East.
In a statement on Thursday, Biden said the sanctions targeted “leaders and entities connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s Defense Ministry, and the Iranian government’s missile and drone program that enabled” the April 13 attack on Israel.
As I discussed with my fellow G7 [Group of Seven] leaders the morning after the attack, we are committed to acting collectively to increase economic pressure on Iran,” the US president said.
“And our allies and partners have or will issue additional sanctions and measures to restrict Iran’s destabilizing military programs.”
Iran launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel in the early hours on Sunday, in retaliation for the deadly bombing of the Iranian consulate in Syria’s capital, Damascus, earlier this month.
The attacks came amid months of escalating regional tensions linked to Israel’s months-long bombardment of the Gaza Strip. The war in Gaza has killed more than 33,900 Palestinians and plunged the coastal enclave into a humanitarian crisis.
The Biden administration which has faced pressure to curb its support for Israel amid the conflict in Gaza is now facing calls to restrain the Israeli government’s response to Iran’s attack. Despite an international push for de-escalation, Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have pledged to respond.
FreeStuffsNG: So reducing university fees will make people eat? The universities are complaining seriously that they can hardly even afford diesel bill and UCH was thrown into darkness for owing electricity bills yet the university Labour unions have had their concerns as their own priority instead of putting heads together with management on how their universities can increase their funding in creative and innovative ways.
Should they shut the universities? I don't think so. The best option is to raise fees but should make it moderate enough for most of the students still able to afford it. Some of these students use N200k mobile devices while some from even modest families will get to school and face other things apart from their education and ultimately the taxpayers don't get the real value on subsidizing their education. I support the call for reducing the hike but the universities can increase fees to give quality services and education to the students. Quality education is not cheap o. Alumni should come in to assist the universities too.
I know quality education is not cheap anywhere in the world, but Nigerians are faced with so many problems compared to citizens in other countries, federal universities should be considerate and understand the plights of the people, raising the fees too high will force many students from poor background to drop out.
Paying such outrageous amount upon all the wahala of ASUU that will still delay students, some people will consider private universities now
Politics › Benue Leaders Looted Huge Minerals, Alia Tells The Diaspora by God1000(op): 3:02pm On Apr 23, 2024
