₦airaland Forum

Kogi Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it has seized 253.6 kilogrammes of suspected cannabis sativa, worth N20.6 million in Abuja and Lokoja.

NCS Area Controller, Niger/Kogi command, Mr Busayo Kadejo, disclosed this on Tuesday in Minna while handing over the suspected weeds to National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for discreet investigation.

Kadejo said the item was confiscated by a patrol team of the service.

“We have obtained necessary approval from the Comptroller-General of NCS, Retired Col. Hameed Ali and I hereby hand over the seized suspected marijuana to the Niger State Commander of NDLEA for further action,”

He said.

Kadejo further stated that the item weighed 253.6kg, with an estimated street value of N20.605 million.

He decried a situation where some responsible citizens were working hard to build the country while others were engaging themselves in acts inimical to the development of Nigeria.

“I am glad that due to the diligent application to duty, our officers were able to intercept these illicit packages.

“If the packages had escaped our eyes, they would have helped in the execution and sustenance of crimes, such as banditry, kidnapping, thuggery and other social vices,” he said.

The comptroller said the service was making efforts to apprehend the fleeing owners of the contraband.

As the general elections draw near, he stressed the need for members of the public to report suspicious activities to security agencies to ensure credible polls.

Kadejo reiterated the service’s commitment to combating smuggling activities in the country and suppressing them to the barest minimum.

Responding, the NDLEA Commander in the state, Mr Haruna Kwetishe, promised that the agency would go after suspected illicit drug consumers, peddlers and barons in the state to ensure credible polls.

Kwetishe, who commended NCS for the seizure, added that NDLEA would ensure that the illicit drugs do not go back into circulation.

According to him, Nigeria is the project of all citizens and not that of the security agencies alone. “Therefore all hands must be on deck to salvage our country,” he said.

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https://supers.ng/kogi-state-customs-confiscate-suspected-cannabis-worth-n20-6m/

Some years ago, voters were verified by simply looking at their paper cards and checking the voter register.

In 2012, however, INEC introduced the Smart Card Readers, SCR, to verify the Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, which contained the facials of voters.

It was the period that INEC also used the Automated Facial Identification System, AFIS, to clean up the voter register.

As politicians developed ways of subverting the procedure, the electoral umpire went a step further to introduce the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, which verifies both the facials and the fingerprints.

This development also entails INEC using the Automated Biometric Identification System, ABIS.

However, speaking on Tuesday at the Chatham House in London, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, hailed the commission’s in-house engineers for the design of the BVAS and for always coming up with innovative ideas and designs to enhance the electoral process.

According to him, an engineer at the commission had proposed using body odour to verify voters, but that he had to ask them to tarry awhile.

‘How does your dog recognise you’
Yakubu said: “The clean up of the register was painstakingly conducted by the commission because of the Automated Biometric Identification System, ABIS.

“Before now, the commission used the AFIS, the fingerprint identification system.

“But this time around, we used the ABIS, meaning both fingerprint and facial, and that is what we are also using to accredit voters on election day.

“All these innovations were all the work of INEC’s own in-house engineers in the commission.

“The machines may have been fabricated outside the country, but the design of the machines were done by our own engineers in-house.

“In fact, one of them said they were going to introduce a new biometric using body odour.

“I said, ‘please, not yet. Let’s make haste slowly’. But when he explained it to me, it sounded logical.

“He said, ‘Don’t laugh, Chairman, because I said body odour is also biometric’.

“He asked, ‘How does your dog recognise you? It is from your body odour and that is why if another person walks into the house it barks, but when you move into the house, it wags its tail because it recognises your body odour’.

“I said, ‘but for elections let’s wait, not now’.”

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https://supers.ng/inec-considers-body-odour-for-voter-verification/

Wolves signed Spanish midfielder Pablo Sarabia from Paris Saint-Germain in a £4.4 million ($5.4 million) deal on Tuesday.

Sarabia agreed a two-and-a-half-year contract with the Premier League club, who confirmed the signing during their 1-0 defeat against Liverpool in Tuesday’s FA Cup third-round replay.

The 30-year-old played under current Wolves boss Julen Lopetegui for Spain’s Under-19 team.

The pair were also at Sevilla together for one month before Sarabia left to join French giants PSG in 2019.

Sarabia made 98 appearances for PSG and helped them win two Ligue 1 titles before spending last season on loan at Portuguese club Sporting Lisbon.

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https://supers.ng/wolves-sign-psg-midfielder-sarabia-for-4-4m/