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Almost 900,000 Nigerians Trafficked Overtime

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Almost 900,000 Nigerians Trafficked Overtime

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By Obiejesi Kingsley

The menace of human trafficking has continued to linger in Nigeria with the 2016 global slavery index revealing that about 27 million people have been trafficked overtime across the globe, and in Nigeria alone, 875,500 people are estimated to have fallen victim to human traffickers over the years.

This was made known by Joseph Chidiebere, the Executive Director of Devatop Centre for Africa Development, a Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, that is dedicated to tackling the challenges of human trafficking in Nigeria.

He spoke to icirnigeria on the occasion of the European Union Anti-Human Trafficking Day, during which the organization, supported by National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, embarked on sensitization campaigns, to raise awareness on the dangers of human trafficking.

According to Chidiebere, human trafficking is almost becoming an epidemic in Nigeria, especially with the increase in the rate of unemployment, poverty, illiteracy and insecurity.

He said: “Nigeria is described as a source, the transit and the destination of people who are trafficked; which means that so many victims come from Nigeria, some are also brought to Nigeria. Nigeria is among the top countries with the highest number of human trafficking cases.

“Considering the nature of poverty, community crises, insurgency and so many factors that contribute to human trafficking, so human trafficking in Nigeria is very high.

“According to Global Slavery index 2016, there are 875, 500 victims of Human trafficking in Nigeria, though globally we have about 27 million people. As of last two years, it was about 700,000, but it has increased in the last two years.”

The young activist stated that government has a major role to play in the fight against human trafficking.

He noted that NAPTIP, formed in 2003, is doing its best, but lots more need to be done in the areas of enlightenment and prevention, urging Government to properly fund the agency for better performance.

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Joseph Chidiebere, Executive Director Devatop Centre for African Development

“I will tell you that they (NAPTIP) are doing well, but not enough, because the fight against human trafficking is not what one agency can fight alone,” Chidiebere said.

“This is a crime that is worth up to $32 billion, so you can’t leave it in the hands of government alone.”

“I will also say that government has been very reluctant after establishing NAPTIP.

“Yes, NAPTIP has been doing its work but they need to be funded. They are not properly funded.”

He added that “government should also fund private organisations” as is obtainable in other countries of the world.

Chidiebere added that efforts should be directed more on interventions and preventions of incidences of human trafficking, which according to him, is less expensive than trying to rescue and rehabilitate victims after they must have fallen victim to traffickers.

He noted that his organization’s major challenge since inception in 2013 has been the issue of funding, as government and corporate organizations do not take the issue seriously.

“In fact, when I started this campaign as a member of the National Youth Service Corps in 2013, I used up to 80% of my allowance to fund it,” Chidiebere stated.

“I received about N20,000 allowance from the government and another N20,000 from my place of primary assignment, but at the end of the month, I hardly saved 5% of the monies because of passion.

“But as time went on, more people began to show interest, but in summary, the support has been very low. There is need for companies to adopt anti-human trafficking projects as their Corporate Social Responsibility, which will also help the fight.”

He also called on businesses and faith-based organisations to commit to the anti-human trafficking crusade.

“We want the public to know that this is a fight for all, it’s everyone’s concern,” the Devatop Chief Executive Director said.

“We want people to know that we’ve been in this fight and we also need people to be part of this fight.”

Chidiebere said that his institution was working on establishing an ‘Academy for the Prevention of Human Trafficking’.

He noted that a pilot project was launched in 2015, where about 120 people from the various states of the country were selected, trained and empowered “to go to their communities and do step-down training.”

“After some nine months, they reported that the impact was so rich. This 120 people reached out to about 6000 people and some even organized seminars in schools.

“Two of the participants established their own organizations to fight human trafficking.

“From the pilot project, we realized that if the academy was established, it will be very impactful,” he stated.

Chidiebere urged for more support to establish the Academy in order to train young people, who are more vulnerable to human trafficking.

“Our own ideology is that young people need to be equipped and empowered to be at the forefront of the anti-human trafficking movement.

“We are projecting that in the next five years, every local government area in Nigeria would have at least five trained anti-human trafficking advocates that will to create awareness, observe and report incidences of human trafficking,” he said.

Donald Trump Refuses To Commit To Accept US Election Result

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Donald Trump Refuses To Commit To Accept US Election Result
Republican US Presidential Nominee, Donald Trump
Republican US Presidential Nominee, Donald Trump

Wednesday’s third round of the United States’ Presidential Election turned out to be the most fiery and controversial, especially with Donald Trump refusing to state clearly that he will accept the eventual election result.

Analysts described the development as unprecedented in the history of US elections; it has been the country’s long-standing tradition for a losing candidate to concede defeat and congratulate his opponent after the votes are counted.

When asked if he would accept the result of the election, Trump – who has consistently claimed the election process is ‘rigged’ – replied: “I will look at it at the time.”

“That’s horrifying,” Clinton shot back.

“He is denigrating and he is talking down our democracy. And I, for one, am appalled that somebody who is the nominee of one of our two major parties would take that kind of a position.”

Trump’s response drew sharp criticism from Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who said the candidate was “doing the party and country a great disservice by continuing to suggest the outcome of the election is out of his hands and ‘rigged’ against him.”

Nicolle Wallace, a Political Analyst and advisor to former Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, said that Trump “may as well have laid down in his own coffin with a hammer and nail and pounded it in himself.”

The debate which held in Las Vegas continued the campaign’s bitter tone, with Trump calling his opponent, Hilary Clinton, a “nasty woman”.

Polls show Trump is losing in key battleground states after facing a slew of sexual assault allegations.

The debate came less than three weeks before Election Day on 8 November.

Both candidates declined to shake hands before and after the political sparring, setting the tone for another debate marked by shouting and interrupting.

Trump appealed to the Republican establishment by vowing to appoint Supreme Court justices with a “conservative bent” who would overturn a key ruling that made abortion legal in the US and protect gun rights.

He also stuck to his pledge to deport undocumented immigrants and build a wall round US borders.

Meanwhile, Clinton firmly declared she would stand up for the LGBT community, defend abortion rights, focus on restoring the middle class and equal pay for women.

“The government has no business in the decisions that women make,” she said.

When asked about her paid speech to a Brazilian bank in which she spoke of her dream of open trade and open borders, Clinton said she was talking about energy policy.

In one key exchange, Trump attacked Clinton’s 30 years of “very bad experience” and she responded by going through her timeline, comparing where she was to where Trump was.

Clinton pointed out that while she was in the White House helping to track down Osama Bin Laden, Trump “was hosting the Celebrity Apprentice.”

The Republican nominee has faced damaging fallout after a video emerged of him making obscene comments about groping women, with senior Republicans deserting him.

When pressed about sexual assault allegations made against him by several women in the wake of the video, Trump said the claims had been “largely debunked”.

In addressing the groping accusations, Clinton said: “Donald thinks belittling women makes him bigger”.

“Nobody has more respect for women than I do,” Trump said as the crowd was heard scoffing.

He also blamed Clinton, whose campaign he said was responsible for drumming up the allegations.

Kafanchan Curfew: Residents, Traders Laments As Banks Run Out Of Cash

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Kafanchan Curfew: Residents, Traders Laments As Banks Run Out Of Cash

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The curfew imposed by the Kaduna State government on Kafanchan and its environs in Jema’a local government area following reprisal attacks by irate youths along the Kafanchan-Kogoro road on Sunday has taken a heavy toll on residents and traders who are lamenting their loses.

The Kaduna State government declared a 24 hour curfew to quell the reprisal attacks by youths protesting an attack by Fulani herdsmen in which about 20 people were killed in Godogodo Chiefdom on Saturday.

The rampaging youths had set up road blocks along the Kafanchan-Kagoro road on Sunday burning several vehicles in the process.

The government on Tuesday reduced the curfew time from 24 hours to between 6pm and 6am, leaving the residents 12 hours of movement.

When our reporter visited the town yesterday, residents and traders lamented the hardship the curfew had inflicted on them as they said that businesses, especially those conducted at night had collapsed making them lose huge amounts.

Those suffering loses are the hospitality sector, supermarkets, filling stations and other small scale traders who are said to be losing millions of naira daily to the restriction of movement.

Also when the www.icirnigeria.org visited some commercial banks at about 3.00 pm on Wednesday, most of their Automated Teller Machines, ATM, were out of cash as several bank customers were seen on long queues.

While normal banking services were running in the town, most of the banks appeared helpless about the inability of their ATMs to dispense cash to their customers.

A staff of one of the commercial banks in the town told our reporter that they could not load the ATMs “because we are facing shortage of cash in the bank.”

Traders who spoke to the www.icirnigeria.org lamented that they were facing the worst time in business. “We make money at evenings when people go out for leisure, but with this curfew, no one is coming and you know what that means to our business”, says Abraham Tanko, a Bar manager.

For Ibrahim Suleiman who makes money from grilled chicken “life has been hard since Sunday and if this continue, hunger will take over the land.”

Security men remained visible in the metropolis and surrounding community as peace is gradually returning to the troubled town.

The interim Chairman, Jema’a local government, Bege Katuka, has announced that the curfew would remain in force until normalcy return to the area.

Katuka said the measure was to further check breaches of the law by youths who were setting up illegal road blocks in the council.

The chairman, therefore, urged residents to remain calm and not to take the law into their hands.

He also urged them to remain in-doors within the curfew time, explaining that the curfew was to allow the security agents carry out operations to restore peace.

Kafanchan has remained a flash point of crisis in Kaduna State for years resulting from religious and communal tensions with herdsmen attacks as the latest to hit the area.

Kaduna Declares Shiite Group Unlawful,Warns Against Mob Action

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Kaduna Declares Shiite Group Unlawful,Warns Against Mob Action

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The Kaduna State Government has officially declared the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, as an unlawful society, and has warned members of the public against attacking the group..

In a news conference on Wednesday, Samuel Aruwan, media aide to Governor Nasir El-Rufai, said that the state government upholds religious freedoms and the constitutional rights of every resident to practice the religion of their choice.

He added, however, that government also “has a duty to declare unlawful any group that threatens peace and security.”

Aruwan pointed out that government has an obligation to preserve security and uphold the rights of all citizens both to practice faith and not be imperiled or be distressed by the way others exercise their faith.

Recall that the Muhammed Garba-led Judicial Commission of Inquiry, set up by the state government to probe the clash between the IMN and the Nigerian Army, had recommended that the Shiite group be proscribed.

According to Aruwan, government “solemnly declared unlawful a specific group that continues to threaten public order in the state.”

“The IMN was never a registered organization and it refused to conduct itself with full adherence to the laws of this state.”

He noted however that “Other groups in the Shia tradition are active in Nigeria” and are “free to practice their creed without injuring the rights of others.”

“Kaduna state has suffered and endured too many calamities, triggered by persons and groups that insist on foisting their faith or political preferences on others.

It is a hallmark of civilization that every assertion of rights by a citizen is done with full acknowledgement of, and respect for the rights of other citizens,” Aruwan said.

He however warned against individuals or groups taking matters into their own hands and attempting to confront the sect should they choose to disregard government’s directives.

The governor’s spokesman said: “No citizen or group of persons can decide to disobey a valid law, without expecting that law enforcement will do its work.

“We have warned that mob action will not be permitted under any guise. The duty of every citizen is to report every illegal action or suspicious activity to the security agencies” he maintained.

Police Admit Checking Vehicle Particulars Not Part Of Duty

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Police Admit Checking Vehicle Particulars Not Part Of Duty

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The Assistant Inspector-General, AIG, of Police in Charge of Zone 11, Dan Bature, has reiterated that the role of police officers does not include checking vehicle particulars on the highway.

Bature, made this known on Wednesday, during a two-day visit to Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

He said that any policeman checking vehicle particulars on the highways is on illegal duty.

Bature pointed out that the role of the police was to ensure safer roads, while warning against the practice of policemen blocking highways with their vehicles.

The AIG, assured that the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Ibrahim Idris was committed to changing the negative image of the police and supporting the anti-corruption war of the Federal Government.

“The Inspector General of Police is determined to improve on your welfare and pursue the increment of your salary.

“But this can only be achieved when the people have good perception about the police,” Bature said.

Sam Adegbuyi, the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, told the AIG that in view of the population of Oyo State, the command needed to create three more Area Commands in addition to the existing four commands.

He commended the AIG, the Oyo state government and the Police-Community Relation Committee for the successes recorded so far in the fight against crime.

FEC Approves N30 Billion Fund for Mining Sector

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FEC Approves N30 Billion Fund for Mining Sector
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Ministers of Solid Minerals Development, and Transportation, Kayode Fayemi and Rotimi Amaechi

In keeping with the diversification agenda of the present administration, the Federal Executive Council, FEC, has approved a N30 billion intervention fund for the Mining Sector.

Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Kayode Fayemi announced this while briefing Journalists after the council’s meeting at the Presidential villa.

The money, which will be accessed from the Natural Resource Development Fund will be used primarily for Exploration activities.

“In recognition of Mr. President’s campaigns promises to Nigerians‎ and in particular his consistent statement to diversification particularly in agriculture and mining sector, Council ratified the approval of N30 billion intervention fund for the mining sector,” Fayemi told journalists.

He added that the fund “will be highly focused on exploration. Exploration is the heart of mining; if you don’t search you won’t find.”

“You have heard all sorts of talks about how rich Nigeria is in mineral resources but the quantity, quality, and the geological prospect has been a challenge because we have neglected the sector for such a long time.” He said.

Also the FEC gave approval for the Concession of the 3,500-kilometer rail line in the country to be undertaken by General Electric, a US-based consortium.

According to Minister of transport, Rotimi Amaechi, the transaction advisers will sit with GE as experts to negotiate the concession.

Amaechi was optimistic that “The narrow Gauge railway will to a great extent assist the agriculture, mines, and steel development ministries in the transportation of the extracted minerals.”

He said: “We are rehabilitating at no cost to the government, the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri, which include Port Harcourt, Aba, Umuahia, Enugu, Makurdi, Jos, Gombe, Bauchi to Borno.

“Then Lagos to Kano will include Lagos, Abeokuta, Ibadan, ‎Ilorin, Kano, Funtua, Zaria and to Kaura Namoda, we are rehabilitating all of them.”

The minister further stated that “It is essential ‎to encourage freight movement, we have over 30 million worth of freight on the Lagos-Kano route for which presently we are moving slightly above 100 tons.

While the Port Harcourt to Maiduguri is currently moving nothing but we are anticipating 11 million tons that can be moved from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri.” He said

Fayose Denies Obanikoro’s Claims 

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Fayose Denies Obanikoro’s Claims 
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Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State

Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has dismissed the reports that former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro admitted to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC,  that he (Fayose) received fund from the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, under Sambo Dasuki, to fund his election in 2014.

Obanikoro, who is undergoing interrogation at the EFCC headquarters, reportedly told the anti-corruption agency that he gave the sum of N2.3bn to Fayose, in the run-up to the Ekiti State governorship election in 2014.

However, in a statement by his media aide Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose insisted that the his election was “legitimately funded”, saying that “when we get to the bridge, we will cross it.

He advised the federal government to pay more attention to the hunger and suffering of the Nigerian people, rather than looking for ways to implicate him.

“This project ‘Fayose must be implicated at all cost will definitely not put food on the tables of Nigerians and for all I care, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and its collaborators can keep running from pillar to post while I keep delivering good governance to Ekiti and its people,” the governor stated.

Fayose said his response to Obanikoro’s claim was just to fulfil all righteousness.

He said: “Those who arranged the dramatic and compromised return of Senator Obanikoro to Nigeria obviously did so in continuation of their project ‘Fayose must be implicated at all cost’, but I am not bothered because my election was legitimately funded.

“However, if this is why they are intimidating judges and the judiciary, it won’t work as far as my own matter is concerned as no one can play God.

“As far as I am concerned, I am busy here in Ekiti attending to the welfare and well-being of my people. I won’t be distracted,” he stated.

The governor wondered why EFCC was focusing only the campaigns of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and overlooking the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

“Since we are now in the era in which financial assistance from Nigerians to fund elections is being criminalised, the international community, especially those funding EFCC must insist that the commission probes the funding of APC elections before further funds are released to the commission,” Fayose said.

FG To Train Chibok Girls

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FG To Train Chibok Girls

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President Muhammadu Buhari has met with the 21 Chibok School girls who were released from the captivity of the Boko Haram terrorists last Thursday, promising that government will henceforth cater for their upbringing.

Buhari, who was due to jet-off to Germany on the day of the girls’ release, met with them shortly after presiding over the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting at the presidential Villa in Abuja on Wednesday.

On his social media handle, Buhari wrote: “Today I received 21 dear daughters. They have seen the worst that the world has to offer. It is now time for them to experience the best.”

“Aside from rescuing them, we are assuming the responsibility for their personal, educational and professional goals and ambitions in life. Obviously, it is not late for the girls to go back to school and continue the pursuit of their studies,” the president said in a speech at the occasion.

“The Government and all Nigerians must encourage them to achieve their desired ambitions.

He reiterated that “These 21 girls will be given adequate and comprehensive medical, nutritional and psychological care and support.

“The Federal Government will rehabilitate them, and ensure that their reintegration back to the Society is done as quickly as possible.”

President Buhari also reserved special thanks for the international community “for their support and prayers, and for never losing confidence in our ability to secure the safe release of our girls.”

He assured Nigerians that his administration has been working tirelessly, and would continue to make efforts to ensure that the remaining girls were all released.

He said: “Since this Administration assumed office, we have been working towards the safe release of the girls. The Nigerian DSS, Military and other Security Agencies have spared no effort to secure our girls.

“These 21 girls are the manifestation of our doggedness and commitments to the release and return of the Chibok girls.

“We are equally as hopeful as we are praying that the remaining girls will be freed and returned to us without further delay.”

Ambode Fires Three Cabinet Members

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Ambode Fires Three Cabinet Members
Governor of Lagos State, Akinwumi Ambode
Governor of Lagos State, Akinwumi Ambode

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, on Wednesday, showed three of his commissioners the exit door in an unexpected cabinet reshuffle.

Secretary to the State Government, Tunji Bello, in a statement announced that Folorunsho Folarin-Coker; Mustapha Akinkunmi and Ekundayo Mobereola, commissioners of Tourism, Finance and Transport respectively, have been sacked.

The statement directed the Special Adviser, Arts and Culture to take over as the acting Commissioner for Ministry of Tourism and Culture; the Special Adviser on Transportation becomes the acting Commissioner for Transportation, while the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance will take over as the Acting Commissioner for Finance, pending the appointment of new Commissioners.

No reason was given by governor Ambode for relieving the former commissioners of their duties, even as the governor thanked them for their service to the State, wishing them well in their future endeavours.

US Based Nigerian Writer Says Buhari Has Disappointed Nigerians

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US Based Nigerian Writer Says Buhari Has Disappointed Nigerians
Chimamanda Adichie
Chimamanda Adichie

Award-winning Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Adichie, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has disappointed many Nigerians, adding that the president wasted the chance to make “real reforms” in the early days of his presidency.

Writing for the New York Times, Adichie said Buhari’s intentions, “good as they well might be, are rooted in an outdated economic model and an infantile view of Nigerians.”

“For the first weeks of his presidency, it was said that civil servants who were often absent from work suddenly appeared every day, on time, and that police officers and customs officials stopped demanding bribes. He had an opportunity to make real reforms early on, to boldly reshape Nigeria’s path. He wasted it,” Adichie wrote.

“Perhaps the first clue was the unusually long time it took him to appoint his ministers. After an ostensible search for the very best, he presented many recycled figures with whom Nigerians were disenchanted.”

The Anambra-born novelist criticized Buhari’s policy of “defending” the naira, which according to her led to the official exchange rate appearing artificially low, while it was indeed skyrocketing on the black market.

“Prices for everything rose: rice, bread, cooking oil. Fruit sellers and car sellers blamed “the price of dollars.”

“The government decided who would have access to the central bank’s now-reduced foreign currency reserves, and drew up an arbitrary list of worthy and unworthy goods — importers of toothpicks cannot, for example, but importers of oil can.

“Predictably, this policy spawned corruption: The exclusive few who were able to buy dollars at official rates could sell them on the black market and earn large, riskless profits — transactions that contribute nothing to the economy,” Adichie stated.

The author was of the opinion that though President Buhari “believes, rightly, that Nigeria needs to produce more of what it consumes, and he wants to spur local production, local production cannot be willed into existence if the supporting infrastructure is absent, and banning goods has historically led not to local production but to a thriving shadow market.”

She also criticized the President’s handling of the herdsmen/farmers clashes in the middle belt region of the country.

Adichie acknowledged that “It would be unfair to blame Mr. Buhari for these killings”, but she frowned at the fact that “It took him months, and much criticism from civil society, to finally issue a statement “condemning” the killings.”

She also cited Buhari’s handling of the case of the clash between the Army and the Shiite group in Kaduna, “when the Nigerian Army murdered hundreds of members of a Shiite Muslim group in December, burying them in hastily dug graves, as well as the killing of members of a pro-Biafran movement “who were protesting the arrest of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, a little-known figure whose continued incarceration has elevated him to a minor martyr.”

Adichie said President Buhari’s “aloofness feels, at worst, like a tacit enabling of murder and, at best, an absence of sensitive leadership.”

She further said that the anti-corruption war “tended to be selective, targeting mostly those opposed to Mr. Buhari’s government.”

She cited an example with the recent raid on judges where the Department of State Security, DSS, “barged” into their homes “at midnight, harassing and threatening them and arresting a number of them, because the judges’ lifestyles “suggested” that they were corrupt.”

Adichie, while acknowledging that “There are no easy answers to Nigeria’s malaise”, suggested that “government’s intervention could be more salutary — by prioritizing infrastructure, creating a business-friendly environment and communicating to a populace mired in disappointment.”

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