A Nigerian newspaper and Online version of the Vanguard, a daily publication in Nigeria covering Niger delta, general national news, politics, business, energy, sports, entertainment, fashion,lifestyle human interest stories, etc
The South African government again, on Friday, deported 90 Nigerians for allegedly committing immigration-related offences.
DSP Joseph Alabi, the spokesman of the Lagos Airport Police Command confirmed the development to newsmen in Lagos.
Alabi said the deportees, who are all men, landed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos at about 3.30pm.
He said they were brought back to Nigeria aboard a South African Airways aircraft with registration number BBB712 from Johannesburg.
"This afternoon, about 3.30pm, 90 Nigerians were deported from South Africa for committing immigration-related offences.
"Some of them were alleged to have been living in the country without valid documents.
"They were received by the appropriate agencies including the police and profiled before being allowed to depart to their respective destinations, " Alabi said.
South Africa had also on Feb. 28 sent 97 Nigerians back home for committing various offences.
They deportees were made up of 95 males and two females.
Opemititi Ajayi, the lady accused by Mercy Aigbe of sleeping with her husband, Lanre Gentry has demanded N500 million as compensation for damages from the Nollywood star.
Reports say Opemititi via her lawyer, Afolabi Fashanu, has turned around to accuse Mercy of "defamation of character and cyber bullying'.
Recall that Mercy had, in an interview, said that she parted ways with her husband after she learnt he was "sleeping with a lady which (sic) is my best friend Opemititi and his PAs…"
Opemititi's lawyers, Afolabi Fashanu and Co of Abeokuta claimed the interview has damaged Opemititi's reputation and that she is seeking reparation of N500million.
Wrote the lawyer: 'Our client has denied strongly that apart from that you were not close friends as falsely claimed by you, She did not at any time sleep with your husband.
"By the said words you have paraded our client as a traitor, prostitute, husband snatcher, adulterous, irresponsible, of bad moral character and low morals and indeed a woman of easy virtue".
Mercy Aigbe is yet to respond to this legal threat and fallout.
Lionel Messi has reportedly made huge demands before signing a new Barcelona deal.
File: Lionel Messi
The Nou Camp talisman is locked in contract talks with the Spanish giants.
Barca are obviously desperate to keep hold of Messi, who has scored 50 goals this season in all competitions. And according to Spanish outlet Diario Gol, the Argentina international wants players axed before he commits to a new deal.
They say Messi will not sign unless Andre Gomes, Aleix Vidal, Jeremy Mathieu and Paco Alcacer gone out. The Barca star also wants coach Robert Fernandez to quit the club along with manager Luis Enrique this summer.
Diario Gol say Messi feels the players in question aren't up to the standards expected at Barca. He also feels Fernandez – and Enrique – are to blame for the club's below-par season.
Tommy Ross scorer of the fastest hat-trick in football has died aged 71 the football club whom he managed in the 1990’s Tain St Duthus announced on Friday.
Ross entered the Guinness Book of Records aged 18 when he scored three times in 90 seconds playing for Ross County against Nairn County on November 24, 1964.
Ross — who earned a move to England playing for Peterborough, York and Wigan Athletic when the latter were a non league outfit — scored 44 goals in the 1964-65 season.
In retirement he set up a construction company with his brothers and also worked in the North Sea oil and gas industry.
Tain St Duthus issued a statement saying everyone at the club “extend their deepest and most heartfelt sympathies to Tommy’s family and close friends at this difficult time”.
The Ross family retain strong links with Tain St Duthus as his sons Stuart and Andrew are in charge of the club.
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has directed the resumption of 24-hour operations at the Apapa port and outrightly banned touting by officials or unofficial persons at any port; be it air, land and sea ports in Nigeria.Yemi Osinbajo
Prof. Osinbajo had on Thursday signed three Executive Orders dealing with the business environment, local content in public procurement and timely budget submission. The Orders take effect immediately.
The Acting President said in the Order that, “the Apapa Port shall resume 24-hour operations within 30 days of the issuance of this Order and there shall be no touting whatsoever by official or unofficial persons at any port in Nigeria.''
According to the directive on port operations, “on duty staff shall be properly identified by uniform and official cards while off duty staff shall stay away from the ports except with the express approval of the agency head. The FAAN Aviation Security (AVSEC) and Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) Security shall enforce this order.''
To vigorously address the menace of touting at the ports, the Order expressly stipulates that “all non-official staff shall be removed from the secured areas of airports. No official of FAAN, Immigration, security agency or Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) or any other agency is to meet any non-designated dignitary at any secure areas of the airport.''
The Acting President also directed that the official approved list of dignitaries that have been pre-approved to be received by protocol officers shall be made available to AVSEC and other relevant agencies ahead of their arrival at the airport.
According to the Order, “any official caught soliciting or receiving bribes from passengers or other port users shall be subject to immediate removal from post and disciplinary as well as criminal proceedings in line with extant laws and regulations.''
“All relevant MDAs at the airports shall within 30 days of the issuance of this Order merge their respective departure and arrival interfaces into a single customer interface, without prejudice to necessary backend procedures,'' the Acting President directed.
On the harmonization of activities of agencies operating at the ports, Prof. Osinbajo ordered that “all agencies currently physically present in Nigerian Ports shall within 60 days harmonise their operations into one single interface station domiciled in one location in the port and implemented by a single joint task force at all times, without prejudice to necessary backend procedures.''
The new single interface station at each Port, the Order stipulates, “shall capture, track and record information on all goods arriving and departing from Nigeria and remit captured information to the head of the MDA and the head of the National Bureau of Statistics on a weekly basis.''
In addition, the Acting President, through the Executive Order, has directed each Port in Nigeria “to assign an existing export terminal to be dedicated to the exportation of agriculture produce within 30 days of the issuance Order.''
The man behind the release of all 82 women captured by militant Islamist group Boko Haram has declared that none of the released girls were raped nor touched by the dreaded terrorist group.
Zannah Mustapha
Zannah Mustapha speaking to BBC’s Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani in an interview revealed that it was only after the women “agreed” to get married that the militants had sexual relations with them and that before the kidnapping of Chibok girls government and his organisation was already trying to negotiate peace with Boko Haram.
Zannah Mustapha 57-year-old said when he arrived for the handover of the 82 Chibok girls freed from Boko Haram after three years in captivity, a militant read out the girls’ names from a list.
One by one, the abducted schoolgirls, now women, lined up along the outskirts of a forest near Kumshe town, on the border between Nigeria and Cameroon. Each of them was covered from head to ankle in a dark-coloured hijab.
“I went ahead of the Red Cross. They [the militants] brought the girls to me,” said Mr Mustapha, the lawyer from Borno state in north-east Nigeria.
He has been mediating between the government and militants for the release of the Chibok girls and for an end to the Boko Haram insurgency.
In 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari told the media that his government was willing to negotiate with “credible” leaders of Boko Haram for the release of the girls.
More than 200 of them were abducted a year earlier from the north-eastern town of Chibok, sparking global outrage.
Previous attempts had failed, with different groups coming forward, each claiming to be the militants in possession of the missing schoolgirls.
It was Mr Mustapha who succeeded in convincing the Nigerian authorities that this particular group should be taken for what they say, presidential spokesman Garba Shehu told me. Some of the 82 released Chibok schoolgirls during the presentation of drugs to them by the Minster of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, at the Directorate of State Service Hospital, in Abuja on Monda “He had dealt with them in the past and they keep to their word,” he said.
Mr Mustapha’s role as a mediator dates back to his founding the Future Prowess Islamic Foundation School in 2007, to provide free Islamic-based education to orphans and the poor.
When the Boko Haram insurgency erupted in 2009, the school offered admission to the children of soldiers and government officials killed by the militants, as well as those of militants killed by the state.
Mr Mustapha then sought the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which began providing free meals to the pupils.
He also encouraged parents to form an association which would reach out to other widows and convince them to send their children to his school.
The ICRC soon extended its humanitarian services to the mothers, providing them free food and other items every month.
“This was at a time when the wives of Boko Haram militants were being arrested and their houses demolished, so Boko Haram saw me and the ICRC as neutral parties,” Mr Mustapha said.
During the previous government of President Goodluck Jonathan, former President Olusegun Obasanjo visited Maiduguri, the epicentre of the insurgency, to intervene in the escalating crisis.
He then set up a group to discuss peace with Boko Haram. Mr Mustapha was included in it because of the relationship he had forged with the families of Boko Haram militants.
After the Swiss ambassador to Nigeria paid a visit to the Future Prowess school in 2012, he arranged for Mr Mustapha to go to Zurich and Geneva to receive formal training as a mediator.
“We were already trying to negotiate peace with Boko Haram before the Chibok girls were kidnapped,” Mr Mustapha said.
The initial negotiation was for a batch of 20 Chibok girls to be released. But, as a sign of commitment to their relationship, Boko Haram added an extra woman, whom Mr Mustapha said was their gift to him, hence the number 21.
When they were released in October 2016, she was chosen by Boko Haram to read out the names of the other 20 women from a list.
Mr Mustapha said the 21 women were lined up and asked by Boko Haram militants if they had been raped. They all said they were not.
When a militant approached a woman who was carrying a baby, she said that she was pregnant at the time of her abduction, having got married a few weeks earlier.
The baby girl in her arms, she said, was her husband’s child.
For some reason, Boko Haram, a group that has cultivated a reputation for brutality, wanted it to be known that it was only after the women “agreed” to get married that the militants had sexual relations with them.
This process of lining up the women, pointing at each one and asking the same question, was repeated at the beginning of May when 82 more women were released.
One of about seven Boko Haram militants, who accompanied them, went from woman to woman asking: “Throughout the time you were with us, did anyone rape you or touch you?” Mr Mustapha said, adding that each of them replied in the negative.
None of the second batch of 82 captives came with a child.One of the 82 Chibok schoolgirls set free by Boko Haram
But one had an amputated limb and was walking with crutches, an injury she sustained, according to what Mr Mustapha was told, during Nigerian military air strikes against Boko Haram.
‘They all ran’ “You are free today,” Mr Mustapha announced to the 82 women after all the names were called out.
“They all smiled,” he said. He believes that their subdued reaction was as a result of the presence of the militants, all armed with guns, some wearing army camouflage uniforms and boots.
Mr Mustapha then took some photographs with the women. The militants also had their video camera on hand and recorded the event. ICRC vehicles eventually arrived.
“When I told them to go to the cars, they all ran,” Mr Mustapha said. “Immediately they entered the vehicles, they started singing for joy. Some shed tears.”
Mr Mustapha has received a number of accolades for his work with Future Prowess School.
He was a finalist for the 2016 Robert Burns humanitarian award, given to those who have “saved, improved or enriched the lives of others or society as a whole, through self-sacrifice, selfless service, hands-on charitable or volunteer work, or other acts”. He was also given a 2017 Aurora Prize Modern Day Hero award, for those whose “life and actions guarantee the safe existence of others”.
However, he described handing over the 82 freed girls to the Nigerian government as “the highest point in my life”.Some of the rescued 82 Chibok school girls at DSS Hospital in Abuja
“I felt that I have done something that is worth saying to the world that I have done this,” he said.
The Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, has said that interested applicants can still register for the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) being written in the country.
According to Prof. Oloyede, the Senate gave him a mandate last month to extend the registration period by one month which would run into May 28, being the final day the board would close its registration portal, for interested candidates who may still want to register but have not done so because of some hitches.
Prof. Oloyede gave the assurance on Friday during his visit to a Computer-Based Centre, CBT, in Lagos.
"As I speak, we have registered additional 1,100 candidates," he said.
Recall that, already, JAMB had released a total of 1,048,914 results out of the 1,648,429 candidates who have written the ongoing UTME.
Stating further, the Registrar said the candidates have not done badly going by the results released so far, and said that fingerprints may no longer be required in subsequent UTME registrations.
Meanwhile, the examination body has denied rumour of deductions in candidates' marks in the ongoing exam.
Dr Fabian Benjamin, the Head of JAMB Information and Media, denied the reports in a statement in Abuja.
According to Benjamin, the rumour is false, devilish and a ploy to cause disaffection among candidates who participated in the 2017 UTME.
"It is no longer news that all our centres have CCTV camera and we have watched all proceedings at the Computer Based Test (CBT) centres across the nation.
"Those involved in any infraction will be sanctioned in accordance with the provision of the Examination Malpractice Act.
"The board has not deducted any marks from any candidate and is not contemplating doing that as it is not a condition for sanction in any of the provisions of the law against malpractice.
"Again, we call on all candidates to be mindful of fraudulent characters who will send misleading information to create panic and take advantage of the situation to defraud them".
Benjamin said that the examinations had so far been conducted for 1,698,835 candidates and that the remaining 19950 would sit for the examination on Saturday, May 20.
He said that the board would conclude the ongoing examination on Saturday, May 20, and examination results were being released for candidates to check, except on Friday and Saturday.
Benjamin said that report that candidates, who could not check their results because they owed JAMB some money, was also false.
He advised candidates not to pay any money to anybody as their results had already been sent to their mails and on the JAMB website: http://www.jamb.org.ng
Benjamin advised candidates to login to check the result with their registration number or with email address to print.
He urged candidates with any challenge not to hesitate to contact the board or check the organisation's Website for detailed information and numbers for enquiries.
ABUJA – The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has declared that eligible power consumers are now free to purchase electricity directly from power generation companies, GENCOs. Fashola Fashola, by this major policy directive, has empowered the consumers to buy electricity directly from a licensee other than power distribution companies, DISCOs.
Explaining the development, which might not sound favourable the to DISCOs, in Abuja, Head, Public Affairs Department at the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, Dr. Usman Abba Arabi, said, the declaration was in line with provisions of Section 27 of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005.
He added, the provisions permitted eligible customers to buy power from a licensee other than electricity distribution companies.
Dr. Arabi stressed further that, "In exercising the power conferred on him by the said Act, the Honourable Minister of Power Works and Housing, directed the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (the Commission) to permit four categories of customers to buy power directly from a licensee other than electricity distribution companies.
"The first category of eligible customers comprises of a group of end-users registered with the Commission whose consumption is no less than 2MWhr/h and connected to a metered 11kV or 33kV delivery point on the distribution network and subject to a distribution use of system agreement for the delivery of electrical energy.
"The next category of eligible customers are those connected to a metered 132kV or 330kV delivery point on the transmission network under a transmission use of system agreement for connection and delivery of energy.
"Other category of customers under the declaration consists of those with consumption in excess of 2MWhr/h on monthly basis and connected directly to a metered 33kV delivery point on the transmission network under a transmission use of system agreement.
"Eligible customers in this category must have entered into a bilateral agreement with the distribution licensee licensed to operate in the location, for the construction, installation and operation of a distribution system for connection to the 33kV delivery point.
"The last category are eligible customers whose minimum consumption is more than 2MWhr/h over a period of one month and directly connected to the metering facility of a generation company, and has entered into a bilateral agreement for the construction and operation of a distribution line with the distribution licensee licensed to operate in the location.
"The new policy directive is expected to bring into play new and stranded generation capacities which may be contracted between generation companies and eligible customers.
The declaration further provides that at least 20% of the generation capacity added by the existing or prospective generation licensee to supply eligible customer must be above the requirement of the eligible customer and is supplied under a contract with a distribution or trading licensee at a price not exceeding the average wholesale price being charged electricity distribution companies by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trader Ltd.
"The conditions for the declaration of eligible customer is subject to review by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission from time to time."
The 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, conducted by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has been written, though others are still writing. But while some candidates who sat for the exams have checked and seen their scores or results, a lot others have not.
This is because, JAMB releases the results in batches.
Already, JAMB had released 1,048,914 results out of the 1,648,429 candidates writing the ongoing UTME.
However, a lot of the candidates may likely not know how to go about checking their results. But there is no cause for worry as a simple step-by-step way of checking your result has been given below. That is if you are one of the candidates who sat for the exam but has not checked yours.
Therefore,
Follow the simple steps below , as sourced from PremiumTimes, to check your 2017 UTME result online for free.
– Go to JAMB portal at http://www.jamb.org.ng/ResultChecker/CheckUTMEResults
– Login with your Email and Password.
– Click on 'Result Notification' from the list of services, or you should find a box that says "Check 2017 UTME Examination Results".
– Click on it to access your JAMB score.
– If selected, and it displays "No Result Yet", Don't panic, as JAMB usually release the results in batches.
You can as well contact the help lines on their website if you experience more challenges.
You may also want to print your result. If so, follow the steps below.
Go to http://www.jamb.org.ng/printslip.htm. Take note of the following:
You shall be required to create a profile via the Sign Up (New User) Page if you are a new user. For existing users, simply type in your login details. To create your profile, you will provide your valid email address, surname, first name, Mobile No, State and LGA of Origin and password, then click on the Sign Up button. Each candidate is entitled to only one profile.
Subsequently, you shall use your email address and password to sign in. Once logged in, you will be taken to the landing page where you will see all available services. Select "Print Result Slip". This is available on the side bar or on the Home page. Once you select this service, a Transaction ID is generated for this service. This will be displayed on the confirmation page screen. Review the details displayed on the Confirmation Page. Also, note the Transaction ID displayed in a bold red font. The Transaction ID is useful for all future references concerning the Transaction. A copy of this transaction ID will be sent to your registered email address. Click on the Continue button if you wish to pay with your card immediately. If you wish to use other payment channels like ATM, Cash at the Bank or Quickteller, please note the transaction ID as it will be required. On the Interswitch Payment page, enter your card details and click on the Pay button. The status of your payment will be displayed on the "My Payment Section".
An SMS and email containing your unique Transaction Identification and payment status will be sent to you after payment. Click on the Continue button. Once payment is completed, you will be asked to provide the following: Year of Exam and JAMB Registration Number.
The Southern Cameroonians in Nigeria (SCINGA) says that no fewer than 2 million Nigerians are at risk of losing their lives, businesses and property if violence breaks out in Southern Cameroons.
SCINGA, who disclosed this while briefing newsmen on Friday in Abuja, said that no fewer than 6 million Nigerians lived in Cameroon 2 million out which lived in the English speaking Southern Cameroons.
The briefing paper was jointly signed by Dr Cornelius Kwanga, SCINGA Coordinator, Sisiku Ayuk-Tabe, SCINGA Spokesperson and Dr Fidelis Ndeh-Che, SCINGA Strategist.
Kwanga said that the essence of the briefing was to request Nigerian media to shine its light on the situation in Southern Cameroons.
"This will avert an impending disaster, waste of human life and valuable economic resources.
"The people of the Southern Cameroons feel, and rightly so, that they have reached the limit in trying to get the annexationist government of La Republique du Cameroun to resolve their amicably through dialogue.
"Each time our people stand up against worsening conditions, the only response they get from the Yaounde administration has been excessive brutality by the supposes forces of law and order.
"These people in uniform are sent to our territory where they systematically torture, rape, maim and abduct our people to detention centres in locations in French speaking Cameroon,'' he said.
The SCINGA coordinator said that the former British territory of Southern Cameroons, also called Ambazonia has been illegally annexed by La Repulique du Cameroon since Sept. 30, 1961.
He said that the annexation was in violation of the UN Charter, the UN Resolution 1608 and other international agreements that were binding on it as a UN member since Sept. 1960.
Kwnaga said that Southern Cameroons had an estimated population of eight 8 million people.
He said if Southern Cameroons' independence was restored and it gained its rightful seat at the union of nations, it would be more populated than 94 countries including Libya, Liberia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Paraguay and Denmark.
The coordinator said that Southern Cameroon had a surface area of over 42,000 square kilometres which meant it was bigger than Holland Belgium, Rwanda, Switzerland, Israel, Burundi, Jamaica, Kuwait, Bahamas among others.
According to him, the oil wealth of Southern Cameroons is what sustains the Republic of Cameroon as the region provides 60 per cent of the Cameroons' resources.
He urged the Nigerian media to help in sensitising other countries to recognise and support the Southern Cameroons as a country at the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa.
Kwanga appealed to the Nigerian media to help in persuading to UN to assume its responsibilities in the Southern Cameroons as its Trust Territory with a view to granting it full independence.
The group's coordinator implored the UN to send peacekeepers to Southern Cameroons in order to put an end to massive human right abuses.
Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode on Friday expressed appreciation to tax payers in the State for performing their civic obligations, revealing that the taxes paid have been judiciously utilized to make life comfortable for the people through implementation of several projects.
Governor Ambode, who spoke separately at Epe and Kosofe Local Governments where he commissioned network of roads, said tax payers deserve to be commended for their efforts at contributing to the development of the State.Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (2nd left); his wife, Bolanle (3rd left); Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure Development, Engr. Adebowale Akinsanya (right); Retired Justice George Oguntade (2nd right); Chairman, House Committee on Works & Infrastructure, Hon. Abiodun Tobun (right)and Oloja of Epe Kingdom; Oba Kamorudeen Ishola Animashaun (left) during the commissioning of the newly reconstructed and upgraded Strategic Arterial/Inner Roads in Epe, on Friday, May 19, 2017.
"Our government is very grateful to Lagosians for their prayers and support particularly in the discharge of their civic responsibility through payment of taxes. It is my belief therefore, that we will continue to enjoy your unflinching support as we work together in transforming our State to the "Lagos of Our Dream".
"On our part, we shall continue to ensure that your taxes are judiciously managed and utilized towards making life more comfortable for everybody," he said.
Speaking at Epe, Governor Ambode revealed plans by his administration to construct a standard eight-lane road from Ikorodu to Epe via Agbowa, Itoikin and Ijebu-Ode.
He said the road project would be delivered through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement, while a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to that effect would be signed next week.
The Governor also revealed that in a bid to scale up the socio-economic integration of the South West region, the State Government in partnership with Ogun State, would construct a top-class road from Mojoda to Ijebu-Ode junction.
The roads reconstructed and upgraded under the Epe Phase 1 Project included Lagos Road (Oke Osho/T. Junction/Aiyetoro Roundabout), Professor Agbalajobi (Aiyetoro Garage/Ita Marun-Ottin) and Oloja Estate (Bature/Otunba Adeniyi/Omotayo/Uthman Mustapha/Adekunle Rahman) roads.
Governor Ambode, while commissioning the roads, said the completion of the project was in line with his promise during electioneering to address the challenges of gross infrastructural deficit, flooding and erosion that the people of Epe had lived with for decades.
He said: "It gladdens my heart to see that two years into the tenure of this administration, the dream of transforming Epe and its environs into a modern city is becoming a reality. The narrow roads are being redefined to give Epe a face lift. The network of roads have been complimented with street lights to provide illumination, improve security and enhance socio-economic activities.
"This is consistent with our pledge to ensure inclusive growth, where no part of the State will be left behind or neglected. The ongoing infrastructural development in Epe is a foundation for economic progress and development," Governor Ambode said.
He added that the plan of his administration was to open Epe town to local and international investors who would be keen to take advantage of the ongoing transformation of Ibeju-Lekki axis which is currently being turned into an industrial hub.
Aside the roads, the Governor said the ongoing Epe Marina project, when completed, would turn Epe into a world class destination for tourists and adventure seekers.
Giving details on other road projects in the axis, the Governor said work had already commenced on the Phase II of the project from Oke-Oso-Araga-Poka and Epe-Poka-Mojoda road, while the proposed Phase III is the Mojoda to Ijebu-Ode junction road to be delivered in collaboration with Ogun State.
Besides, the Governor expressed optimism that the Ikorodu-Agbowa-Itoikin-Ijebu-Ode and Itoikin Epe road projects would provide viable alternative routes to Lekki-Eti-Osa-Epe Expressway which will witness increased vehicular movement resulting from industrial activities at the Lekki Free Trade Zone.
"We are optimistic that the future prosperity of Lagos State is secured. The development of the East-West wings of the State is our sure bet to prosperity," he said.
While thanking the people for their support during construction of the roads, the Governor urged them to endeavor to get necessary permit before embarking on any construction to prevent demolition of structures for such future road projects.
"As we celebrate 50years of our dear State, there is no better way to say thank you to all the good people of Epe division than the provision of economic infrastructure that will help make the communities liveable and viable," he said.
At Kosofe Local Government where he equally commissioned newly upgraded eights roads in Omotayo Banwo, Kola Iyaomolere, Omotayo Close, Adetunji Adegbite Street, Ogun Street, Goodluck Street and Prince Oyewunmi Streets, the Governor said the rehabilitation of the roads was part of the efforts to further improve road connectivity and reduce travel time in the axis.
He expressed happiness that the efforts of his administration in the axis was already paying off and had resulted in massive improvement in the flow of traffic to and from the Island via the Third Mainland Bridge as a result of the construction of Laybys, Alternative Routes and creation of more spaces for bus stops.
Specifically, the Governor said the newly upgraded Banwo and Iyaomolere roads would decongest traffic on Oworonshoki expressway by providing a link through Ogudu to Ikorodu expressway.
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has commended the Nigeria Police on the arrest of those who threatened to assassinate its National President, Mr Chinonso Obasi and his chief of staff.
NANS, in a statement by Obasi on Friday in Abuja, said that the students' body was relieved with the prompt manner in which Nigeria Police apprehended the suspects.
He said that NANS was delighted to note that the Nigeria Police, under the present Inspector General, Mr Idris Abubakar, had become very proactive.
According to him, the Nigerian Police have become alive to their constitutionalresponsibility of not only protecting lives and property, but also preventingcriminality.
"On February 21 when NANS addressed a world press conference in Abuja and volunteered to join the battle against corruption and take advantage of the whistle-blowing policy of the present administration, a lot of people doubted our resolve.
"However, when we matched our words with action by unearthing massive corruption in tertiary institutions, particularly by some unscrupulous vice chancellors whose dubious investments by proxy and money laundering tactics were exposed….
"When intimidation of NANS volunteers and officials could not deter us, the powerful elements resorted to dividing NANS, only to take the final option, which include assassination threats.
"We have therefore decided to commend Abubakar and his gallant officers who moved in with precision to investigate and make arrests.
"This show of patriotic zeal by Abubakar and his men has renewed the confidence of Nigerian students that a new Nigeria is already here, and we are emboldened to remain committed to the national war against corruption and criminality,'' he said.
Obasi said that with the support of the police, NANS would not relent on its anti-corruption stance in Nigerian tertiary institutions.
The NANS president added that he was hopeful that the Police would quickly charge suspects to court and investigate other reports pending at various police formations in the country.
Police in Osun said they had arrested a 13-year-Old boy (name with held) for being in possession of 29 wraps of weed suspected to be Indian hemp and seven wraps of weeds called 'Sconge'.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Fimihan Adeoye, made the disclosure at a news conference in Osogbo on Friday.
Adeoye said one Akeem Ojuolape, who gave the 'weeds' to the minor to sell was also arrested by the police.
He said one Ahmed Azeez was also arrested along with the duo on May 14, adding that the suspects would be charged to court at the conclusion of investigation.
The commissioner, however, said the minor would be rehabilitated.
In a related development, Adeoye said two suspects, Saheed Opeyemi, 30 and Idowu Rafiu, 26, were arrested with two unregistered stolen Bajaj Boxer motorcycles.
He said that the suspects were arrested by a team of Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad and 39 Police Mobile Force attached to Ilesha Police Area Command.
The commissioner said in the course of interrogation, the suspects confessed to have burgled a shop in Osogbo where the motorcycles were stolen.
He said that the owner of the shop, Mr Ebenezer Adeniji, had identified the two motorcycles, saying that he reported the case at Dugbe Police Division on the same day they were stolen.
He said the suspects would be charged to court at the conclusion of investigation.
Oba Ewuare II N'Ogidigan of Benin on Friday recalled Mrs Victoria Orhue ostracised from Obe N'Evbueribo in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo by Odionwere (head) and Ohen of the village.
The Oba also directed that all her lands and other property that were confiscated by the village leadership be returned to her immediately.
Ewuare II gave the order at Ugha-Ozolua in his palace while presiding over matters affecting individuals, families and villages.
Orhue and her children were banished from Obe N'Evbueribo in Ikpoba-Okha by the Odionwere, Mr Oyeobasojie Ekhator and Ohen Osaghae Edobo after a dispute over land and other property.
She was also said to have been assaulted severally by some Community Development Agency youths believed to have been working for the Odionwere and Ohen.
Oba Ewuare said the banishment was unacceptable and a unilateral decision of the Odionwere and Ohen, adding that they had no powers to banish anyone from the village.
The oba ordered that decision on certain traditional matters must be brought to the palace for due consultations before adjudicating on them by traditional and village heads including ohen in Benin kingdom.
Ewuare II further directed odionwere and ohen to desist forthwith from such decisions and make peace with Mrs Orhue and her children including all the people of the village
Also, Mrs Ann Aghayere reported Odionwere of Amagba, Mr Oduoriyekemwen in Oredo Local Government Area to the palace over the selling of her land.
Oba ruled that a fresh land of same measurement with the one sold, including the seized documents, be restored to her with immediate effect.
The oba also directed that a perimeter fence should be erected on the said land by the Odionwere as compensation.
There was jubilation in the palace ground by friends and relations of the litigants after the verdicts, and prayed for the success of monarch.
The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) said on Friday that it awarded 941 projects in Bayelsa, out of which 233 valued at N38.8 billion had been completed and inaugurated. Mr Ibitoye Abosede, Director Corporate Affairs, NDDC, made this known in a statement made available to Newsmen in Abuja.
Abosede quoted the Chairman Governing Board, Sen. Victor Ndoma-Egba, as making the disclosure when he led a team of the commission's Board and Management to visit Gov. Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa at Government House, Yenagoa.
The chairman also pledged to complete the N24 billion 25.7kilometre Ogbia-Nembe road before the end of 2017.
Ndoma-Egba gave a firm assurance that the N24 billion Ogbia-Nembe road, being executed by the NDDC and Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, would be completed as quickly as possible.
He said: "We must finish and commission the Ogbia-Nembe road; it is a commitment we must fulfil this year."
"The commission was implementing an innovative 4-R strategy which entails: "Restructuring the balance sheet which currently has about N1.2 trillion worth of ongoing projects;
"Reforming the governance systems to ensure that as an organisation we comply with extant rules and regulations and prevent mistakes of the past from recurring;
"Restoring the core mandate of the Commission by ensuring we have a properly prepared set of Master Plans for the 9 States; Reaffirming our commitment to doing what's right and proper," he said.
Ndoma-Egba said that as a regional interventionist agency, NDDC was conceived to drive integrated development in the region.
He noted that the Commission had too many projects in its books.
According to him, the NDDC will cancel about N200 billion projects from our books.
"We need to reduce the projects we are handling to a manageable number that will make more impact."
He said that the NDDC was prepared to make amends for the mistakes of the past, saying the commission is forging a new relationship with stakeholders in the region.
"The new spirit of cooperation entails our not competing with the states and local governments.
"To deepen this new relationship, we have written to the President to re-activate the Advisory Committee and the Project Monitoring Committee.
"We need these two committees to be able to share our visions for the region and avoid duplication.
"We need the project Monitoring committee to enable us earn the trust of our partners," he said.
The chairman stressed the need for the commission to return to the Niger Delta Regional Development Master Plan, which was launched with fanfare in 2007.
According to him, the stakeholders will decide whether to terminate that Master Plan, update it or upgrade it. But a Master Plan is very necessary.
He also said that the commission was thinking beyond oil because oil is finite resource that will one day dry up.
Responding Gov. Dickson expressed delight at the Ogbia-Nembe road project, which is opening up 14 communities on its stretch to economic activities and modern development, stating that his administration was ever ready to partner with the NDDC.
He thanked the Federal Government for creating different platforms, including the NDDC to fast track the development of the Niger Delta which has suffered a lot of neglect in the past.
Dickson advised stakeholders in the region to put in more efforts to change the negative perception of the oil-rich region.
"While we blame the Federal Government, we should also look inwards to make a difference and change the narrative in the region.
"Our people are dying from the hazards of oil and gas exploration and exploitation with no concrete benefits to our people.
"It is sad that young people have made our region to be branded as unsafe and not good enough for the big companies to do business.
"I call on all young people and our leaders to work to change the narrative of our region," he said
Dickson advised the NDDC to ensure that available resources were channelled to projects that would affect the lives of the people.
According to the governor the region cannot afford the luxury of playing politics with matters of development.
Members of the delegation included the Managing Director, Mr Nsima Ekere, the Executive Director Projects, Mr Samuel Adjogbe, the Bayelsa State representative on the NDDC board, Prof. Nelson Brambaifa and other directors of the Commission.
Managementof educational institutions should see alumni associations as important stakeholders in order to benefit from the goodwill of considerable number of prominent ex-students.
Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), made the call in keynote address at the second quarter meeting of Conference of Alumni Associations of Nigerian Universities (CAANU) at Igbinedion University, Okada near Benin on Friday.
Represented by Alhaji Ibrahim Dan'iya, his Deputy, Rasheed said this was imperative as the extent to which alumni contributes to their alma mater depends to a large extent on the kind of treatment given to them while in school.
He added that with this, institutions would benefit from the goodwill of considerable number of prominent alumni. The scribe emphasised that alumni associations were critical stakeholders in the whole process of reforming the education sector.
He, therefore, urged all to see it as a call to initiate a development process that would bring about sustainable change in the sector.
"We must provide the necessary support to drive change in this most critical sector.
" As members of alumni associations, you can volunteer your professional services for seminars and workshops on key issues that will change the sector", he said.
Prof Ahmed Mora, National Chairman of CAANU, said the topic: "How to Build an Evolving Alumni Engagement Strategy", was apt especially in privately-owned universities. . Mora said the conference was planned to serve as stimulus to the institution and other privately owned universities to encourage active alumni association.
Prof. Eghosa Osaghae, Vice Chancellor of the Igbinedion University, declaring the conference opened, urged alumni to look for ways to strengthen the institutions that produced them.
He challenged them to build alumni where all would come together to give back to their various institutions what they benefited as way of supporting their social corporate responsibility.
He stressed that "a good alumni contributes and makes a difference in their alma mater.''
French researchers said on Friday they had found a last-chance way for technicians to save Windows files encrypted by "WannaCry", racing against a deadline as the ransomware threatens to start locking up victims' computers first infected a week ago.
WannaCry, which started to sweep round the globe on May 13, has infected more than 300,000 computers in 150 nations.
It alsp threatened to lock out victims who have not paid a sum of $300 to $600 within one week of infection.
A loose-knit team of security researchers scattered across the globe said they had collaborated to develop a workaround to unlock the encryption key for files hit in the global attack, which several independent security researchers have confirmed.
Researchers said their solution would only work in certain conditions, namely if computers had not been rebooted since becoming infected and if victims applied the fix before WannaCry carried out its threat to lock their files permanently.
The group includes Adrien Guinet, who works as a security expert, Matthieu Suiche, who is an internationally known hacker, and Benjamin Delpy, who helped out by night, in his spare time, outside his day job at the Banque de France.
"We knew we must go fast because, as time passes, there is less chance to recover," Delpy said after a second sleepless night of work this week allowed him to release a workable way to decrypt WannaCry at 6 am Paris time (12 a.m. ET) on Friday.
Delpy calls his free tool for decrypting infected computers without paying ransom "wanakiwi".
Suiche published a blog with technical details summarizing what the group of passing online acquaintances has built and is racing to share with technical staff at organisations infected by WannaCry.
Wanakiwi was quickly tested and shown to work on Windows 7 and older Windows versions XP and 2003, Suiche said, adding that he believed the hastily developed fix also works with Windows 2008 and Vista, meaning the entire universe of affected PCs.
"(The method) should work with any operating system from XP to Win7," Suiche told Reuters, via direct message on Twitter.
Delpy added that so far, banking, energy and some government intelligence agencies from several European countries and India had contacted him regarding the fix.
Guinet, a security researcher at Paris-based Quarks Lab, published the theoretical technique for decrypting WannaCry files late Wednesday and Thursday, which Delpy, also in Paris, figured out how to turn into a practical tool to salvage files.
Suiche, based in Dubai and one of the world's top independent security researchers, provided advice and testing to ensure the fix worked across all various versions of Windows.
His blog post links to a Delpy's "wanakiwi" decryption tool which is based on Guinet's original concept.
His idea involves extracting the keys to WannaCry encryption codes using prime numbers rather than attempting to break the endless string of digits behind the malicious software's full encryption key.
"This is not a perfect solution," Suiche said.
"This is so far the only workable solution to help enterprises to recover their files if they have been infected and have no back-ups" which allow users to restore data without paying black-mailers.
As of Wednesday, half of all internet addresses corrupted globally by WannaCry were located in China and Russia, with 30 and 20 per cent of infections, respectively, according to data supplied by threat intelligence firm Kryptos Logic.
Kryptos said that by contrast, the U.S. accounts for seven per cent of WannaCry infections while Britain, France and Germany each represent just two per cent of worldwide attacks.
Kryptos also added that only 309 transactions worth around 94,000 dollars appear to have been paid into WannaCry blackmail accounts by Friday (1345 GMT/9.45 a.m. ET), sevens days after the attack began.
That's just under one in 1,000 of the estimated victims.
This may reflect a variety of factors, security experts say, including scepticism that attackers will honour their promises or the possibility that organisations have back-up storage plans allowing them to recover their data without paying ransom
FBN Holdings shareholders on Friday approved dividend of N7.18 billion declared by the company for the financial year ended Dec. 31, 2016.
The shareholders gave the approval at the company's 5th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Lagos.
The dividend translated to 20k per share against N5.38 billion or 15k per share paid in the comparative period of 2015.
Mr Sunny Nwosu, the National Coordinator Emeritus, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), commended the company for declaring dividend in spite of high impairment.
Nwosu said that the shareholders appreciated the dividend considering the unfriendly operating environment and impairment charge for credit losses.
He urged the company's board and management to map out strategies aimed at fighting the impairment to improve operating profit.
Nwosu said that the company should go out aggressively to recover the loans for better dividends payment in the future.
He, however, said that this was the best time to buy into the company in order to be part of its success story.
Mr Nona Awo, another shareholder expressed concern over the company's huge unclaimed dividends figure.
Awo stressed the need for collaboration between the registrars and investor relations officer to drive down the figure.
He added that the company needed to increase its customer deposit base and reduce non-performing loans.
Mr Bayo Adeleke, the immediate past ISAN Secretary said that FBN Holdings was resilient as it had passed through many storms.
Adeleke said that the new leadership of the company had been able to turn things around.
He said that the company needed to support the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as the nation's engine of development through lending.
Dr Adesola Adeduntan, the Managing Director, First Bank of Nigeria, assured the shareholders of the bank's sustainability.
Adeduntan told the shareholders that the bank, a key component of the holding company, had taken cognisance of past events and the need to do things differently.
He said that digital banking was one of its key strategies for growth going forward.
Adeduntan said that the management was migrating the institution from credit lending to transaction lending institution.
He said that the bank was working hard to ensure reduction in impairment as was witnessed in 2016.
"Impairment going forward will remain relatively high but not in the magnitude of 2016," Adeduntan said.
He said that the board and management had strengthened various risk controls in the bank aimed at lowering risk appetite.
Adeduntan said that the bank's single limit obligor had been reduced from N90 million to N30 million to reduce risk.
He said that the bank would not do a single transaction more than N30 million going forward to minimise risk and reduce Non-Performing Loans (NPL).
He added that the bank had overhauled the credit and risk management structure, strengthened oversight process and approval process to tackle impairment.
Adeduntan said that a combination of the strategies would ensure that the bank did not create NPL in the magnitude of the past going forward.
Mr U.K. Eke, the FBN Holdings Group, the Managing Director said that shareholders should be optimistic of higher returns on their investment from 2017 financial year.
Eke said that the company in 2016 had to battle escalating operating cost in an inflationary environment and sought to grow operating income in a recessionary environment.
He said that the company allowed the commercial bank to retina its earnings for future growth rather than approaching shareholders for fresh funds.
Eke said that the company took the period of recession inherent in the country to clean up its book for enhanced growth.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the company posted gross earnings of N581.8 billion during the period under review against N502.8 billion achieved in 2015, an increase of 15.7 per cent.
Profit before tax stood at N22.9 billion from N12.6 billion in the comparative period of 2015, representing a growth of 6.3 per cent.
Disheveled, barefoot and bleary-eyed, the Nigerian girls are some of the first to walk off the boats. A dream realised; they arrive in Europe — though the scene is anything but romantic.
Caskets are carried off, carrying those who didn't survive the two-day journey across the Mediterranean, from Libya to the Sicilian port of Palermo. Babies wail and those sick and burned from the effects of the gasoline mixed with saltwater stumble towards the medical tent.
The Nigerian girls are given a plastic bag containing a litre of water, a piece of fruit and a sandwich. They're ushered to a vinyl tent for "vulnerabili" — the vulnerable ones.
For at least 30 years, Nigerian women have been trafficked into Europe for sex work, but numbers have spiked recently. In 2014, the trickle of a few hundred women a year grew to nearly 1,500. The following year, it increased again to 5,600. In 2016, at least 11,009 Nigerian women and girls arrived on Italian shores.
These women used to arrive on planes with visas. Now, they come the "back way" — the smuggling route that has developed across Africa to bring hundreds of thousands of Africans to Europe.
Women make up a smaller percentage of total African arrivals to Europe, and aid response for them has been slow and misguided. Although the International Organization of Migration estimates that 80 percent of Nigerian females coming to Europe are trafficked, aid workers have no way of telling those seeking opportunity from those forced against their will. They hand out flyers warning against trafficking.
Time is of the essence: If officials can establish trust, girls who have not been trafficked may be less likely to become ensnared in sex work once they are in Europe. And those who were trafficked are more likely to supply details that reveal that they have been trafficked, allowing the IOM to refer them to Italy's national anti-trafficking network, or local prosecutors, who can help them get international protection.
In the best-case scenario, they are placed in a safe house run by nuns or an NGO, which is supposed to house them for up to three years and try to integrate them into European life with school and job training, with the goal of becoming independent.
That's the ideal scenario — but it rarely happens. Safe houses are built for a dozen women — there aren't nearly enough to take in the thousands of women arriving.
Traffickers know this.
Before leaving for Italy, Nigerian traffickers give the girls and women a phone number for a madam, and tell them to call as soon as they arrive. Madams are older Nigerian women, sometimes former prostitutes themselves, who have climbed the organisational ranks. A younger male is also involved, working for the madam by following, watching and accompanying the young women.
After arriving, the Nigerian women are taken with other asylum-seekers to facilities around Italy, built to house them as they await their documents. Teeming with people from Nigeria, The Gambia, Eritrea and elsewhere, many of whom have been there more than a year, they're allowed to come and go, and use cell phones.
"Madams actually recruit inside the big immigration centres," explains Tiziana Bianchini, who works for Lotta Contro l'Emarginazione, a Milan-based organisation with an anti-trafficking mission. This means that girls who may not have been trafficked run the risk of falling into criminal networks once they are in Italy.
Peace is one teen girl who, in 2013 at the age of 17, migrated by boat to Sicily and was brought to CARA of Mineo, the largest refugee camp in Europe. Located in Sicily's eastern province of Catania, the centre, once an American military base, houses more than 3,000 men and women. It has become notorious for its dubious finances and for giving residents cigarettes instead of the payments they are entitled to under Italian law.
While she still lived in the camp, Peace stopped a Nigerian man on a street nearby, and asked to borrow his phone. She dialled the number she had been told to, and spoke to the Nigerian woman on the other line. Within days she was a sex worker. "Once you make the call, you're off. You never go back to the camp," she says.
I met her earlier this year in a small room in Sicily where church services are held, several months after she left the street.
She's an energetic, fast-talking, smiley young woman, whose youthful stature is nonetheless marked by a distinct confidence. She wears her hair up high, with a long braid hanging down her back, bouncing as she walks and talks in the glaring Sicilian sunlight.
Peace isn't her real name — it's an alias we agreed to use because she still lives in fear of her traffickers, or that she'll be deported. Or of repercussions for her family because she didn't finish repaying her debt.
Trafficking officials would call her a typical victim: She grew up in Benin City, in the heart of Nigeria's poor, rural southwestern Edo State, a major source of trafficked sex workers in Europe. She's the eldest girl from a large family — and older girls are the most likely to be trafficked. Her mother died when Peace was 16, and her father "was not caring."
She decided to leave, feeling the pressure of needing to help her family financially, and escaping from a situation that was hurting her.
When a woman approached her, telling her she was beautiful and asking if she wanted to go to Europe, Peace agreed. She knew she'd have to work on the street, and she knew she would need to pay the woman 30,000 euros once she arrived in Europe. She completed what Nigerians call the "juju oath," an animist, spiritual contract in which the girl agrees to be brought to Europe, and binds herself to her debt with bits of her pubic hair and blood.
The ritual is taken extremely seriously — and violation is considered justification for murder of a girl or her family.
"Back then, I just thought, f*** it," said Peace.
Languishing in the camps
The lax oversight at these migrant centres has led to calls for a different response to migrant arrivals in Italy. The centres, which Italians call "welcome homes" and the people inside call "camps," were Italy's stop-gap solution to provide recent arrivals with housing as they awaited their documents or the result of their applications for international protection.
A process that was supposed to take a couple of months now lasts years, while applicants languish in overcrowded centres, often in the middle of nowhere.
"Italy was completely unable to create a national program to deal with the arrivals from Africa," said Bianchini, explaining that the responsibility lies with understaffed and underfunded local governments, who end up outsourcing the oversight of these camps to private organisations, "making contracts with whoever."
This means there is little oversight or transparency. Much of the staff operating these centres speak little to no English (nor French nor Arabic for that matter), the centres are overcrowded, and the people inside of them tend to be given little access to information on Italy's legal system.
When I visited one centre, many people asked me if they should try to get to France. Rumour has it that it's increasingly tough to cross the borders out of Italy.
"The Italian system of housing asylum-seekers is completely inadequate for victims of trafficking," Bianchini added, noting that women in general, but especially victims of trafficking, require specific psychological and educational support that these centres are unable to provide.
Every so often, law enforcement officials in Italy decide it's time for a sweep and deport Nigerian women back to Nigeria, where they run the risk of being re-trafficked.
"Forcibly returning the girls to Nigeria would be another heavy violence against them," explains Sister Valeria Gandini, a missionary nun who eight years ago founded Palermo's Street Unity, a group of lay and religious volunteers who visit the women on the street each week. "Sooner or later, they will meet the same people who betrayed them and brought them to Europe the first time around."
Deportation rumours often spur more women to run away.
Impossible to pay
Another young Nigerian woman who ran away from her camp, only to wind up on the street, is Favour — again, not her real name. When I met her, she had a big, warm smile beneath a fashionable knit cap.
Like Peace, Favour is from Edo State, though from the more rural area, outside of the city. Before she agreed to seal the oath, Favour asked the woman who approached her if she was going to Europe to "do prostitution." It was only once the woman assured her that she would be working in a shop that Favour agreed.
She was told the money would be easy to come by once she was in Europe.
When she first arrived at the madam's house, Favour was exhausted. She slept for two days. On the third day, the woman said it was time to go to work.
In addition to the 30,000 euros she had to pay off, she would have to pay 80 euros a week for food, 250 euros a month for the rent, as well as the gas and electric bills. Favour was ready: OK, no problem. Just show me the shop, she said.
First, the woman took her shopping. They bought clothes that Favour says she "didn't understand." A few days later, the woman said she was ready for work. They took bus after bus, and then they walked. She found herself in the "bush," standing on the side of the road. She was told to put on different clothes, clothes she had bought earlier with the woman, and that were now tucked inside the bag she had brought.
When it finally dawned on her what she would have to do, Favour cried. She cried all day, and for many days she refused to work. When she went home with nothing, the woman would beat her. After some time, she felt she had no choice, and she gave in.
In Palermo, women and underage girls like Peace and Favour work the streets among the trees lining the busy road of La Favorita, or along the trash- and urine-ridden streets around the port.
They are there six nights, or days, a week, depending on their shifts. As the months get warmer, the clothes get skimpier: see-through tights that reveal a lacy thong, shirts open to reveal naked breasts. They wear wigs directly from Nigeria that cost 20 euros each. Blessing (not her real name), a woman of tiny stature and boundless energy who works on a Palermo street, shows off her fake eyelashes, which can stay on for several weeks
Peace now shares an apartment with an Italian woman whom she helps around the house. In her room, she brushes her hair, smiles often and laughs a lot. She is candid but guarded about her experience working on the street.
"It all depends on the client," she says. "Sometimes, those clients don't even want sex so much as they want company, and with them, you try to be jovial, you make them laugh. But then there are the clients who don't want to pay you, the clients who are aggressive. Those are the bad clients." Peace can talk about it without showing too much emotion, but she is reluctant to go too deep. She would like to go back to Nigeria eventually, but for now, she feels pressure to make money, either for herself or her family — she wasn't clear.
Favour's experiences were worse. Once, a client knifed her. Another time, two men who approached her gave her a bad feeling. "Via," she told them. "I'm not working tonight." "You must," they replied, before slapping her and dragging her into a room in a local train station. She cried a lot as she told her story. When she came to, she said she asked the first person she found to bring her to the hospital.
After that, she decided to get out.
Getting out
The Street Unity group in the town where she was working had been asking her for months if she wanted out. Street Unity groups, like that established by Sister Valeria in Palermo, approach the girls offering medical support, and in the case of the religious groups, prayer.
The Nigerian women are extremely religious (there is no one in Nigeria, Peace once said, who can honestly say that they don't believe in God), and prayer is often a source of bonding. Once the connections have been established, the groups can be a way off of the street — a difficult and uneasy step.
Sicily has a 22-percent unemployment rate, high even by Italian standards. The only jobs available to Nigerian women are in cleaning or taking care of the elderly or children. But these jobs require Italian language skills, and they don't come with guarantees of good payment or treatment.
As Sister Valeria sees it, "the women who are victims of trafficking, who have been forced into sex work for years, who are in the end destroyed, physically and psychologically — what future can they have here?"
Against all odds, Peace one day decided she would leave. It was a scary decision, because of the juju oath she had made back in Nigeria. Article 18 of Italy's Consolidated Immigration Act provides protection and temporary residence permits to victims of trafficking who denounce their traffickers or madams, or who show visible signs of being in immediate psychological or physical danger.
But Peace, like many of these women, refused to take this route. Denouncing her madam or her trafficker would be the biggest violation of her oath. "I'm protected, in Europe," she explains, "but I have to think about my family."
Back in Nigeria, it would be easy for them to be killed or badly hurt. And, there is the fear of going crazy. She talks about her friend, Mary, who convinced a whole group of girls to denounce their madam. Mary has since gone "totally wacko" — a problem, Peace explains, that is not psychological but spiritual, linked directly to the effects of the juju oath.
Peace and Favour are moving on with their lives. Peace attends classes in Italian, sewing and cooking. She sings in her town gospel choir, and helps organise meetings in her church's community, where she leads discussions about work opportunities and community empowerment.
Favour lives in a safe house in northern Italy. She is also taking Italian classes, and the operators taking care of her are working hard to find her job opportunities so she can be independent one day. Peace says she's thankful for her experiences. She feels she has grown, and says it's for this reason that she does not think of herself as a victim (though she admits that she can say this only because she is no longer on the street).
Favour, for her part, calls herself "a very big victim," but she is looking forward, too.
* Maggie Neil is a writer and researcher based in Italy, focusing on trafficking and migration thanks to a Fulbright research grant. She reported this story with the assistance of The Fuller Project for International Reporting.
Mr Kenedy Tonjo-West, Senior Special Assistant to Bayelsa Governor, Seriake Dickson on Niger Delta Youth Matters, has described the relationship between former President Goodluck Jonathan and the governor as cordial.
Seriake Dickson & Goodluck Jonathan
Tonjo-West said this in Yenagoa on Friday that Dickson's criticism of Jonathan's six year tenure as a waste was not true.
He said that those behind the rumours were up to mischief to cause disaffection between the two political leaders.
He said that Dickson expressed disappointments over the progress made by the region in the past six years by leaders of the region at various levels of leadership.
"The governor in his speech at 2017 Isaac Boroh Day celebration, berated leaders from the region for their poor performance and lack of support to his administration and that they had wasted the past six years in bickering.
"There was no mention of Jonathan and they have failed because the Niger Delta region is now more united and Jonathan is a leader that Dickson respects and they have wonderful relationship.
"Dickson re-echoed the feeling of the majority of the people and the fact remains that a lot of leaders have not worked to attract development to the region and those affected are well known.
"You know we have a proverb that an old woman is not happy whenever you talk of dry bones, and that is what we are seeing," Tonjo-West said.
He said that efforts at causing disaffection between Dickson and Jonathan was not in the interest of the Niger Delta region, and advised the people to close ranks and support their leaders.
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