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BREAKING: I Am Alive And Well, El-zakzaky Speaks Out

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<em><strong>Leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, has assured Nigerians he is alive an well.</strong></em></div>
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El-zakzaky who is in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS), said this on Saturday while addressing journalists.</div>
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He thanked Nigerians for their prayers, as well as the DSS for allowing him access to his doctors.</div>
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Details Later…</div>
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BREAKING: I Am Alive And Well, El-zakzaky Speaks Out

Leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, has assured Nigerians he is alive an well. El-zakzaky who i...

January 13, 2018

Boy strangles girlfriend to death during sex game

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A teenager was strangled to death as she laughed and joked with the man accused of murdering her.</div>
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The suspect, Ashley Foster, 24, was released from prison just three days before he allegedly killed 17-year-old Megan Bills during a sex game.</div>
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Megan ’s body was found badly decomposed at a hostel for former inmates in Brierley Hill, West Midlands, on May 3, 2017.</div>
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A court heard that her remains were stuffed in a wardrobe wrapped in clingfilm by Foster, who is suspected to have killed her as part of a ‘snuff movie fantasy’ three weeks earlier.</div>
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Police released CCTV footage of Megan’s final moments, which was shown to a jury on Tuesday.</div>
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She can be seen laughing with Foster in a supermarket as they bought cans of soft drink and blue Rizla cigarette papers.</div>
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Jurors were shown further CCTV of the pair’s movements around the hostel, including Megan’s last sighting as she entered Foster’s room.</div>
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Prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC said: “Megan was seen wearing boots she had borrowed from her mother and tartan trousers.</div>
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“Foster is wearing black trainers with white stripes, a t-shirt and perhaps green or blue trousers.</div>
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“At 3.35pm we can see Megan going into Mr. Foster’s room, she is not wearing those black boots.</div>
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“This is the last sighting of Megan on the footage from any of the CCTV cameras.”</div>
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Foster claimed the pair had consensual intercourse before Megan died accidentally during a sex game gone wrong.</div>
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But Mr. Aylett QC said Foster had been carrying out his own sexual fantasies when he throttled Megan to death.</div>
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He then allegedly searched for snuff films while her body decomposed as he tried to cover his tracks by vacuuming flies and spraying bed sheets with cleaning fluid.</div>
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Footage taken from May 2 shows Foster in the back garden of the property hanging out his quilt to dry.</div>
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Mr Aylett added: “He can be seen hanging a quilt up and returning inside. His windows are open in his room.</div>
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“He has a bottle with him, white with a nozzle to it which he uses to spray the quilt.</div>
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“He (later) comes out, turns the quilt over and uses the spray on the underside.”</div>
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The trial, at Wolverhampton Crown Court, continues</div>
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Boy strangles girlfriend to death during sex game

A teenager was strangled to death as she laughed and joked with the man accused of murdering her. The suspect, Ashley Foster, 24, w...

January 12, 2018

Fulani herdsmen have declared war on Benue – Ortom weeps as he buries victims in Makurdi

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<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />SEAR<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-size: 1.8rem; letter-spacing: -0.02em;">Fulani herdsmen have declared war on Benue – Ortom weeps as he buries victims in Makurdi</span></div>
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Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, has described the attacks on his kinsmen by suspected Fulani herdsmen as a declaration of total war on people of the state.</div>
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The governor said since 2011 when the attacks started, the state has lost illustrious sons and daughters as well as approximately N95bn.</div>
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The governor made these remark on Thursday in Makurdi at the mass burial of those recently killed by Fulani herdsmen in Logo and Guma LGAs of the state.</div>
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Ortom, who wept profusely while giving his speech called on both national and international communities to come to the aide of the state.</div>
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He noted that the attacks were aimed at making the state ungovernable.</div>
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His words, “For several years, these attackers have turned our beautiful and endowed land into their killing fields.</div>
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“These attacks have been intensified with alarming devastation since 2011.</div>
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“The report of a survey conducted by Bearua of LG and chieftaincy affairs in the state that in 2014, among 10 of the 23 LGAs of the state lost hundreds of lives and incurred loses of over N95 billion.</div>
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“So far, 13 of the 23 LGAs have been affected.</div>
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“The govt and people of the state interpreted this clear handwriting on the wall as an open declaration of war on Benue State.</div>
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“Our people would not have been massacred. It would have been prevented because the state government delayed the implementation of the law until 1st Nov 2017 to give a grace period for those who needed permits to establish ranches.</div>
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“However, no Fulani herdsman or woman applied for permit.</div>
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“Rather than make attempts to comply with the law, their leaders continued to engage in more threats to resist the implementation.</div>
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“They also went to challenge the legitimacy of the law and the matter is still pending.</div>
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“The dead bore the characteristics of Fulani militia brutality- slit throats, deep cuts from machettes on he head, chest , back and neck with some of their private parts removed. It was well planned and clinically executed with specific targets.</div>
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“We wish to draw the attention of the national and international communities to the fact that Benue state has come under a deliberate, well planned and well funded siege. What started in Guma and Logo is a clear statement of the evil and devastating plan against the state.</div>
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“Our invaders do not care which political party we belong to, they don’t care where we worship. They do not care about our age and gender. All they care is to annihilate us, to obliterate us from Benue Valley so that their cattle can graze and drink freely from rivers in the state.</div>
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“History beckons and we must rise to the challenge which our forefathers confronted and surmounted.</div>
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Fulani herdsmen have declared war on Benue – Ortom weeps as he buries victims in Makurdi

SEAR Fulani herdsmen have declared war on Benue – Ortom weeps as he buries victims in Makurdi Benue State governor...

January 11, 2018

Atiku is Miyetti Allah’s chief financier, says Unongo, NEF Chairman

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Atiku Abubakar</div>
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The Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, Paul Unongo, has accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of being the chief financier and most influential member of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, the apex body of Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria.</div>
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He, therefore, called on Atiku, who is a prince of the Tiv Court, to caution the herdsmen, who have been slaughtering hundreds of people in the country.</div>
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Unongo said this during an interview with one of our correspondents on Friday.</div>
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The NEF Chairman said, “I am aware that the most powerful person in Miyetti Allah is Alhaji Atiku Abubakar,who wants to be the next president. If they are fighting for power and Atiku wants to create problems for Buhari, I don’t know. There are so many possibilities.</div>
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“The most powerful person who finances the Miyetti Allah is Abubakar Atiku and he is a prince of the Tiv Court. The Tiv gave him a traditional title, meaning ‘the biggest shade of  the Tiv people’.</div>
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“This implies that the Tiv people should be able to run to Atiku who will protect them.</div>
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This is the man who heads Miyetti Allah and is the greatest financier of this organisation.</div>
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He has more cattle than anybody in Miyetti Allah.</div>
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“It is an establishment of the big people, a very rich group of Nigerians and they pack small boys to take their cattle all over the place and then buy all these arms to give herdsmen to go and kill people, and the government is doing  nothing!”</div>
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When asked if he was sure that Atiku was the most influential member of the Miyetti Allah, Unongo said the former Vice President told him personally that he was an influential member of the association.</div>
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He added, “I know, I got my facts partially from him regarding Miyetti Allah when I used to talk to him.”</div>
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When our correspondent asked Unongo if he had met with the former Vice President recently over the issue, the NEF boss said it was very difficult to see him.</div>
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He said, “Have you tried to see a ‘big man’ before? I don’t like to wait at people’s doors. If you’re in government, yes, but when you’re not in government, it  shouldn’t be so hard to see you.</div>
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Atiku is my younger brother and he should come to me.</div>
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“Anytime you go to his place, the people around him think you are there to collect money that they are sharing. So, I decided that I would not disgrace the NEF. I am not belittling him, but he is no longer in power and I deserve some respect.”</div>
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Unongo also berated the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government for treating the Fulani herdsmen crisis with kid gloves.</div>
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He said he had been warning the President for nearly three years about the crisis but that the President’s “insensitive” advisers had been deceiving him into thinking the matter was a small one.</div>
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The NEF chairman said that many of the President’s aides had been preventing him from seeing the President and telling him the truth about the issue.</div>
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Unongo, who is both Tiv and Fulani, said, “The President is not happy about what is happening, but his insensitive advisers have deceived him into thinking this is not a serious issue, which they keep saying they can handle, but it has now festered to a level where it is difficult to take care of.”</div>
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The NEF chairman said it was unfortunate that despite the several threats made by the Fulani herdsmen after the antiopen grazing law came into effect, the government failed to take action.</div>
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He said, “Miyetti Allah threatened and said upon the implementation of the law, they would attack in January violently and force the withdrawal of the law. I don’t understand. It didn’t make sense at the time, but it means that perhaps the Miyetti Allah wanted to prove to the people and the government of Benue State that when they make a promise, they keep to it.”</div>
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Benue and Ekiti states had both enacted anti-open grazing laws to check the activities of herdsmen, while Ondo, Cross River, Ebonyi and Akwa Ibom states have also moved to have anti-open grazing laws to check the activities of the nomadic pastoralists.</div>
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However, the former Vice President said that although he is a Fulani, he was not a member of the Miyetti Allah.</div>
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Atiku stated this in his reaction to the allegations levelled against him by Unongo</div>
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Atiku is Miyetti Allah’s chief financier, says Unongo, NEF Chairman

Atiku Abubakar The Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, Paul Unongo, has accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of being th...

January 05, 2018

DPR seals errant stations in Bayelsa

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The Department of Petroleum Resources in Bayelsa State on Friday sealed some petrol stations in Yenagoa, the state capital, for selling fuel above the government regulated price of N145 per litre.</div>
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Speaking to journalists during the exercise, State Controller of Operations, DPR, Mrs. Ejiro Ofondu, said the effort was to compel marketers not sell the product above the approved pump price.</div>
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The DPR monitoring team visited many filling stations in the metropolis to ensure that marketers complied with the price regime of N145.</div>
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It was observed that apart from the NNPC mega filling station along Sani Abacha Expressway that sold Premium Motor Spirit for N143 per litre, other stations sold the product above the approved price of N145.</div>
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At Sobaz filling station, Ekeki, Yenagoa, the product was sold for N210 per litre, while at Ereboter Oil, along Swali Road, also in the capital, the product was sold for N205.</div>
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However, the DPR compelled all the stations visited to sell at the normal price.</div>
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A petrol station, Ido Oil Nigeria Limited, along Melford Okilo Expressway, Yenagoa, was sealed by the DPR monitoring team for refusing to sell at the government approved pump price of N145.</div>
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However, marketers, who spoke with <em>Saturday,</em> bemoaned the development, describing it as an aberration.</div>
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The Manager of Ereboter Oil, Mr. Ere Peters, said, “We are not getting this product from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. I got petrol from Warri depot at N198 per litre. How can we sell at N145?”</div>
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Also, General Manager of Ebi Egrin and Sons Nigeria Limited, Mr. Austin Emmanuel, urged the government to try to know how the products were got and not always be in haste to assert their authority.</div>
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He said, “You can’t expect somebody to buy a product at a high price and sell at a lower price. This is not business. The government should do the needful to ensure that the product is available.”</div>
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But Ufondu, while reacting to marketers’ claims, said, “Our duty is to regulate pump prices, we are not suppliers, we don’t stock oil.”</div>
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Meanwhile, a mild drama played out when members of the Ijaw Youth Council in a convoy led by its Secretary General, Alfred Zimizigha, ran into the convoy of the DPR.</div>
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The Ijaw youths had warned that they would seal all filling stations in the state if they (filling stations) refused to stick to the normal price.</div>
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Zimizigha had complained that the marketers would revert to selling above pump price immediately the DPR team left the stations.</div>
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A car owner, who gave his name only as Mr. Otolo, while speaking to our correspondent on the issue, commended the DPR for the move</div>
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DPR seals errant stations in Bayelsa

The Department of Petroleum Resources in Bayelsa State on Friday sealed some petrol stations in Yenagoa, the state capital, for selli...

January 05, 2018

Gunmen kill NDLEA official

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<img alt="ndlea" class="attachment-860x800 size-860x800 wp-post-image" data-attachment-id="215058" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="<p>NDLEA officials [Photo credit: www.ndlea.gov.ng]</p>
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NDLEA officials [Photo credit: www.ndlea.gov.ng]</div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; text-align: justify;">Suspected armed robbers on Friday gunned down an operative of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, and injured three others in Kano.</span><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; text-align: justify;">The NDLEA Chairman, Mohammad Abdullah, said the incident occurred when one of its patrol teams approached a road block in the city.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; text-align: justify;">He said it was not immediately certain whether the gunmen were drug traffickers or robbers.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; text-align: justify;">Narrating the development further, commander, Kano NDLEA, Hamza Umar told journalists that the late officer was shot on the back adding that he had been laid to rest.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; text-align: justify;">The NDLEA boss explained how the NDLEA’s poor funding was the reason why its operatives could not adequately protect themselves from such attacks.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; text-align: justify;">“We have lost a senior and gallant office in active service and even though loss of life is certain, this one is sadden and painful but that will not stop us from the fight.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; text-align: justify;">“Although the men were on routine operation, maybe if they were adequately equipped, perhaps they would have won the gun duel. But again this incident will further enable us to continue our consistent call on the federal government for better funding of the agency,” he said.</span></div>
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Gunmen kill NDLEA official

NDLEA officials [Photo credit: www.ndlea.gov.ng] Suspected armed robbers on Friday gunned down an operative of the National Drug Law E...

January 05, 2018

ICYMI: FG may increase petrol price to N180 per litre

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Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu who dropped the hint in Abuja <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1261482066" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">on Thursday</span></span>, said the current price of N145 per litre can no longer be sustained.</div>
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In a presentation he made to a joint committee on Petroleum (Downstream) of the Senate and the House of Representatives, the Minister said the landing cost for petrol stood at N171 per litre.</div>
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According to him, the Federal Government, through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has been bearing the cost of N26 per litre, representing the difference between N171 and the current official price of N145 per litre.</div>
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Insisting that independent marketers would not be able to import the product at the current foreign exchange rate, saying the marketers were able to sell for N145 per litre when the exchange rate was N285 per Dollar. The Naira presently exchanges for N365 per Dollar.</div>
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“We now have to go back and find the solution to this problem in order to ease supply gaps and ensure availability of the product at all times,” the Minister said.</div>
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Kachikwu, however, proffered three alternative solutions to pump price increase: getting the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to introduce a modulated foreign exchange rate specifically for importers of the product; giving the marketers significant tax adjustments to enable them to absorb the high cost; and a plural pricing system whereby the NNPC would continue to sell at N145 through its numerous outlets while the marketers are allowed to fix their own price.</div>
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The Minister identified causes of the last fuel scarcity to include diversion of products, logistic constraints, bottleneck associated with clearance, bad road network, insufficient product reserves, smuggling through land borders, supply gaps and enforcement challenges.</div>
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He stated that the marketers stopped importing fuel since October 2017, as a result of their inability to access foreign exchange from the CBN, leaving only the NNPC to import the product, which has left a wide gap between demand and supply.</div>
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Dr. Kachikwu lamented that the price of petrol rises with the rise in the price of crude oil in the international, stressing that in such instances, Nigeria spends more to import refined products. In effect, any rise in crude oil price increases the amount the country spends on the importation of fuel.</div>
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To address the situation, the Minister canvassed the opening up of production lines, specifically the refineries, which he said, would address supply gaps that usually leads to incessant scarcity.</div>
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“Rising prices in international market affecting domestic prices. What the country needs is to have the refineries working. It’s a shame that after 40 years, Nigeria cannot produce its domestic consumption.</div>
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“It would take 18 months to address problems of scarcity, price stability and other issues relating to the supply of petroleum products. The pipelines should be concessioned to allow private participation.</div>
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“There is huge infrastructure deficit in the system because the NNPC ought to be distributing products through their pipes but most of the pipes are damaged. The has necessitated the use of trucks to distribute the product across the country.</div>
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“Most importantly, fixing the refineries should be the lasting solution. To discuss and address the issues, we have to seek approval from the President,” the Minister said.</div>
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In his own submission at the hearing, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru said the last scarcity was caused by rumours of price increase in the media that led marketers into hoarding the product in anticipation of higher prices.</div>
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Said he: “So there was a frenzy in the movement of products to the hinterland and diversion of products going to the hinterland in anticipation of the increase in price.</div>
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“The NNPC, or the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Authority (PPPRA) had no mandate to increase pump price.”</div>
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The GMD said that the strike action embarked upon by PENGASAN in December was partly responsible for the scarcity, saying issues raised by the association for going on strike had nothing to do with the NNPC.</div>
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According to him, the strike triggered panic buying by members of the public leading to scarcity of the product. He added that although PENGASAN called off the strike on December 18, the damage had already been done.</div>
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Baru identified other factors responsible for the last scarcity to be the higher price at which petrol is sold in neighbouring African countries, citing Cameroun where he said petrol sells for N300-N400 per litre.</div>
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Stating that the NNPC has enough product to bridge supply gaps, Baru insisted the corporation has sufficient stock to go round even without importation.</div>
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The GMD alleged that about 4500 distribution trucks failed to return to depots to complete their distribution formalities during the scarcity period, meaning that the trucks were diverted.</div>
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“There was no supply gap because we have Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP) agreement with 10 consortia involved. Three of them rejected their cargoes, which were reallocated to others.”</div>
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The GMD also hinted that the refineries in Kaduna and Port Harcourt were being reactivated and restreamed and that they have been producing three million litres daily.</div>
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Baru also cited disagreements among the various private operators in the sector as part of the problems that threw up the scarcity, adding that the marketers were busy trading allegations of sharp practices.</div>
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He said: “For instance, IPMAN said MOMAN and DAPPMA were charging over N133.28/litre but when we asked them to provide evidence of overcharging, they could not provide any. If proven, NNPC would have withdrawn the licenses of the errant bodies.”</div>
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The Executive Secretary of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mordecai Baba Ladan told the committee that at the outset of scarcity, the DPR rolled out its machinery across the country, with the directive from the Minister that defaulters be dealt with.</div>
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“Almost every marketer/filling station across the country are defaulters. And if all defaulting filing stations were to be shut down, there may not be anyone left.</div>
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“They horde, sell above official price and also divert products. But we have stepped up our monitoring process now that the NNPC is the sole importer but the corporation cannot do it alone.</div>
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Virtually all the independent marketers that attended the hearing alleged multiple charges by the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), NIMASA and some state governments charging 3 kobo per litre wharf landing fee.</div>
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The Executive Secretary of MOMAN, Mr. Obafemi Olawore said the N800 billion owed marketers by the Federal Government has made it difficult for them to obtain credit from the banks to import the product.</div>
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He appealed to the government to give key players major roles in the importation business, saying that shutting down errant filling stations won’t solve the scarcity problem but rather aggravate it.</div>
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Olawore called for total deregulation of the sector to allow more participants from the private sector.</div>
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Curiously, however, the chairman of the joint committee, Senator Kabiru Marafa who had vowed to grill the Minister and the GMD over secret subsidy payment by the government.</div>
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Briefing newsmen at the National Assembly <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1261482067" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">on Friday</span></span>, Marafa had raised questions on who pays the difference of the N26 in the landing cost of N171 against the pump price of N145.</div>
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The lawmaker said there were indications that a subsidy of N26 was being paid on every litre of petrol sold in the country and wondered who has been paying the subsidy.</div>
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Marafa had said, “If there is subsidy payment, then who approved it and how much has been paid out as the subsidy so far. If you want to provide the subsidy, it should come through the National Assembly but we have not received any request for subsidy payment from the Executive arm.”</div>
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Stating that about N10 trillion has been paid out as the subsidy, Marafa had lamented that stakeholders in the Petroleum industry, particularly the NNPC, have not been transparent in the running of the sector.</div>
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He said these were some of the issues the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, Baru and others would be made to explain to Nigerians at the January 4 hearing.</div>
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“We are going back to the same circle where only a few persons benefit from subsidy payment at the expense of the Nigerian people,” Senator Marafa had said.</div>
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Other members of the joint committee are Senators Tayo Alasoadura, Mao Ohuanbunwa, Sabi Abdullahi, Foster Ogola, Yahaya Abdullahi, Rose Oko, Philip Aduda among others</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

ICYMI: FG may increase petrol price to N180 per litre

The Federal Government may increase the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol to a minimum price of N180 and above...

January 05, 2018

I borrowed N10bn to clear salaries, says Kogi governor

<header class="amp-wp-article-header ampforwp-title" style="background-color: #f1f1f1; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><h1 class="amp-wp-title" style="font-size: 1.5em; margin: 16px 0px 13px; text-align: center;">
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<figure class="amp-wp-article-featured-image wp-caption" style="margin: 0px;"><amp-img alt="Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image amp-wp-enforced-sizes i-amphtml-element i-amphtml-layout-responsive i-amphtml-layout-size-defined i-amphtml-layout" height="364" sizes="(min-width: 579px) 579px, 100vw" src="http://punchng.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/22175833/Yahaya-Bello.jpg" srcset="http://punchng.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/22175833/Yahaya-Bello.jpg 579w, http://punchng.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/22175833/Yahaya-Bello.jpg 300w, http://punchng.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/22175833/Yahaya-Bello.jpg 30w" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; overflow: hidden !important; position: relative; width: 100vw;" width="579"><i-amphtml-sizer style="display: block; padding-top: 213.734px;"></i-amphtml-sizer><img alt="Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello" class="i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content" decoding="async" src="http://punchng.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/22175833/Yahaya-Bello.jpg" style="border: none !important; bottom: 0px; display: block; height: 0px; left: 0px; margin: auto; max-height: 100%; max-width: 100%; min-height: 100%; min-width: 100%; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; width: 0px;" /></amp-img><div class="wp-caption-text">
Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello</div>
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<li>state adopts “earn as you work” method from January</li>
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The Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, on Friday disclosed that his administration resorted to borrowing N10bn before it could clear four-month salary areas before the last Christmas.</div>
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He said the loan was added to the over N1.2bn that accrued to the state from Paris Club refund as well as the state’s November and December allocation before the feat could be achieved.</div>
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The governor spoke in an interview with State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.</div>
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He said, “In Kogi State today, we are up to date as far as salary is concerned. In December, Mr. President magnanimously assisted us with another tranche of Paris Club refund. Our own figure was N1.2bn and some other change on top.</div>
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“We didn’t just stop at that, we borrowed up to N10bn and we added November/December allocation to our figures and we were able to clear four months at a stretch before Christmas and some leftover were cleared before this January in Kogi State.</div>
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“As you all know the salary was very bogus and according to the figure we had we were able to distribute it among these months. So glory to God as far as Kogi State is concerned.”</div>
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From January however, the governor said workers in the state would be earning salaries based on the number of times they are present at work.</div>
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“Moving forward from this January, we have decided that we are going to make use of our clock-in device for every civil servant in Kogi State-both at local and state levels.</div>
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“So, as you come to work and clock-in, that is exactly how your salary will be generated. It is online, it is automated so nobody is going to cheat anybody.</div>
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“That is how we are going to go in the state. So, Kogi State civil servants and pensioners are all happy with this administration. Thanks to God and Mr. President for this magnanimity,” he said.</div>
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The governor also claimed that his administration had worked so hard on the security situation in the state to the point that no case of kidnapping or armed robbery has so far been recorded in November, December and January.</div>
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“The security operatives are collaborating with us, we are spending a lot on security.</div>
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“So collaboration between the security agencies and understanding by the people, they are giving us a lot of information and we are treating them with utmost secrecy and we are working harmoniously together.</div>
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“The Fulanis in Kogi State are equally collaborating with us. Even the criminal elements amongst them, they are the ones even apprehending them and handing them over to the security agencies. So we are living very harmoniously with the Fulani herdsmen, farmers and the citizens.</div>
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“Travelers are safe day and night because anywhere you go, you see security operatives and we have even vigilantes, hunters that are equally assisting us in our farms and so many other deserted areas. So Kogi is very safe,” he claimed.</div>
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On the 2019 general elections, Bello recalled that his state has already endorsed President Muhammadu Buhari for second term.</div>
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He boasted that the state would return a number of votes that will dwarf that of the President’s home state, Katsina</div>
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</div>

I borrowed N10bn to clear salaries, says Kogi governor

Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello state adopts “earn as you work” method from January The Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, on ...

January 05, 2018

Police nab 16 suspected kidnappers, recover fake military uniforms

Police nab 16 suspected kidnappers, recover fake military uniforms

The police have arrested three gangs of 16 suspected kidnappers terrorising commuters on the Kaduna-Abuja Expressway and the Minna-Su...

January 04, 2018

Israel launches plan to expel thousands of African migrants

<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 18.4px;">Israel on Wednesday began implementing a plan to force tens of thousands of African migrants out of the country by April, threatening to arrest those who stay.</span><br />
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<amp-img class="i-amphtml-element i-amphtml-layout-responsive i-amphtml-layout-size-defined i-amphtml-layout" height="334" layout="responsive" src="https://cdn.vanguardngr.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/prostitute1.jpg" style="display: block; overflow: hidden !important; position: relative; width: 360px;" width="412"><img class="i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.vanguardngr.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/prostitute1.jpg" style="border: none !important; bottom: 0px; display: block; height: 0px; left: 0px; margin: auto; max-height: 100%; max-width: 100%; min-height: 100%; min-width: 100%; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; width: 0px;" />srael on Wednesday began implementing a plan to force tens of thousands of African migrants out of the country by April, threatening to arrest those who stay.</amp-img></div>
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“This plan will get under way today,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting.</div>
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Under the programme, some 38,000 migrants who entered Israel illegally, mainly Eritreans and Sudanese, will have until the end of March to leave.</div>
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Each will receive a plane ticket and $3,500 (2,900 euros) to do so. After the deadline, this amount will decrease and those who continue to refuse to go will face arrest.</div>
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Holot, an open facility in Israel’s desert south that can host 1,200 migrants who are allowed to leave to work during the day, is also set to be closed.</div>
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It currently holds 970 people, an interior ministry statement said earlier this week.</div>
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The plan was originally approved by the cabinet in November, drawing a statement of concern from the United Nations refugee agency.</div>
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Wednesday’s cabinet session marked the programme’s transition from the planning stage to action, migrant aid worker Adi Drori-Avraham told AFP.</div>
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“We see here the implementation of the decision,” said Drori-Avraham of the Tel Aviv-based Aid Organisation for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Israel (ASSAF).</div>
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The Africans currently hold short-term residence visas which must be renewed every two months.</div>
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“From today when a person goes to request an extension to their visa, if he does not have a pending asylum application… his visa will not be renewed and he will be given a deportation order,” she added.</div>
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She said that under the new regulations there is also an option for the authorities “not even to threaten them with a choice of voluntary departure or jail, simply to seize them and take them to a plane”.</div>
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“At the moment there are exceptions for women, children, parents of children and victims of human trafficking, but the procedural rules make it clear that those exemptions are only temporary,” she added.</div>
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– Boosted border protection –</div>
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In his comments to the cabinet and media on Wednesday, Netanyahu defended the plan.</div>
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“Every country must maintain its borders, and protecting the borders from illegal infiltration is both a right and a basic duty of a sovereign state,” he said.</div>
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Israel tacitly recognises that the Sudanese and Eritreans cannot be returned to their dangerous homelands, so it has signed deals with Rwanda and Uganda, which agree to accept departing migrants on condition they consent to the arrangement, activists say.</div>
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A 2016 UN commission of inquiry into Eritrea’s harsh regime found “widespread and systematic” crimes against humanity and said an estimated 5,000 people flee the country each month.</div>
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The International Criminal Court has indicted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide related to his regime’s counter-insurgency tactics in the 14-year-old conflict in Darfur.</div>
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Migrants started coming in large numbers across the porous border between Israel and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula in 2007, when nearly 5,000 entered, interior ministry figures show.</div>
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The government has since completed fencing the border and deploying electronic sensors. In the first six months of last year, no one made it across.</div>
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Over the years, those caught at the Egyptian frontier were detained at prisons in the Negev desert in southern Israel.</div>
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On release they were given bus tickets to Tel Aviv, arriving at the central bus station on the south side of the city, where many have since remained.</div>
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Israeli residents of southern Tel Aviv have long complained of their presence and right-wing politicians have pledged to heed calls to force them out, often with harsh rhetoric.</div>
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During a visit there in August, Netanyahu pledged to “return south Tel Aviv to the citizens of Israel”, adding that the Africans were “not refugees but illegal infiltrators”</div>
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Israel launches plan to expel thousands of African migrants

Israel on Wednesday began implementing a plan to force tens of thousands of African migrants out of the country by April, threatening to arr...

January 04, 2018

North Korea accidentally hits one of its own cities with missile

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A missile</div>
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A North Korean missile reportedly crashed into one of its own cities after it failed just minutes following its launch.</div>
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US officials said the Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) was initially thought to have disintegrated mid-flight after it was fired on 28 April last year.</div>
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However, new data suggests it landed in the city of Tokchon, around 90 miles north of the secretive communist country’s capital, Pyongyang. Tokchon has a population of around 200,000.</div>
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The missile likely exploded on impact, causing significant damage to a complex of industrial or agricultural buildings, <em>The Diplomat</em> magazine reported, citing a US intelligence source alongside satellite imagery.</div>
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After its launch from the Pukchang airfield, the missile flew approximately 24 miles to the north-east, the report stated, adding that it flew no higher than around 43 miles.</div>
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A US government source said the missile’s first stage engines failed around a minute after it was launched.</div>
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Liquid-fuel missiles can cause massive explosions when they fail, and satellite images from Google Earth taken after the test show a cleared area where a building once stood and damage to a greenhouse caused by debris.</div>
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However, as the publication pointed out, it is impossible to verify whether the accidental strike caused any deaths due to the secretive nature of the North Korean regime.</div>
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The report highlights the danger of another North Korean missile test failing at the wrong time. If the missile fell towards Japan, its trajectory may resemble an attack.</div>
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The hermit kingdom, which has launched ballistic missiles over Japan since August 2017, gives no warnings before its tests, leaving nearby countries and the United States little time to determine whether missile launches are a test or a legitimate attack.</div>
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The report also warned that the North’s newly constructed tunnels, hangars and storage sites mean its missiles won’t be “sitting ducks” easily targeted on known launch pads.</div>
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The Diplomat article comes as Japan’s Prime Minister warned that the security situation facing his country is the most perilous since the Second World War because of North Korea’s “unacceptable provocations”.</div>
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“It is not an exaggeration to say that the security environment surrounding Japan is at its severest since World War Two,” Shinzo Abe said, as he vowed to bolster the country’s defences and protect the Japanese people.</div>
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“By raising pressure on North Korea, together with the international community, I intend to do my utmost to solve North Korea’s nuclear, missiles and abduction issues.”</div>
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Earlier this week, Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said the US was hearing reports North Korea might be preparing to fire another missile.</div>
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A ballistic missile launch was “possible, if not likely, in the coming days”, military officials told NBC News. One official said a possible launch could happen mid-week, while another called the timeline “short term.”</div>
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“North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un just stated that the ‘Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times’. Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger and more powerful one than his, and my Button works!” the US President tweeted.</div>
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</div>

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Nigeria’s electricity grid collapses

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Nigeria’s power transmission grid collapsed on Tuesday night, a development that led to widespread blackout across the country.</div>
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It was learnt that the collapse was due to a fire incident on the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System of the Nigerian Gas Processing and Transportation Company Limited.</div>
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The incident led to a shutdown of the pipeline that supplies gas to six thermal power plants, which prompted the collapse of the country’s electricity grid at 10:20pm on Tuesday.</div>
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This was confirmed by the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing in a statement issued around 12:44am on Wednesday.</div>
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The ministry said it was regrettable that after a sustained period of increasing production and distribution of power since September 2017 to date, the Nigerian Gas Processing and Transportation Company Ltd reported a fire incident on its Escravos Lagos Pipeline System near Okada, Edo State on Tuesday, January 2, 2018.</div>
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It said, “The incident requires a shutdown of the pipeline supplying gas to Egbin 1,320megawatts; Olorunsogo NIPP 676MW; Olorunsogo 338MW; Omotosho NIPP 450MW; Omotosho 338 MW; and Paras 60MW power stations.</div>
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“The sudden loss of generation due to interruption in gas supply from these stations caused the national transmission grid to trip off around 20:20 on 2nd January 2018. The national transmission grid is owned and operated by the Transmission Company of Nigeria.”</div>
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Most of Nigeria’s power generation is from thermal power stations that require gas for fuel.</div>
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The gas is produced by oil and gas companies overseen by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and is delivered to the power stations through pipelines owned and operated by NGPTC, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.</div>
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The FMPWH, however, stated that the TCN and the generation companies were working to restore operation of the national grid.</div>
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It said, “Once the national grid is restored, output from the hydroelectric power stations and all other unaffected gas fired thermal power stations will be increased to the extent possible to minimise the impact of loss of generation from the affected power stations while NNPC takes necessary steps to restore gas supply.”</div>
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It said the national power grid collapse would be temporary, describing it as a setback.</div>
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“We urge members of the public to bear with us as we work to overcome this setback which should be temporary.</div>
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Nigeria’s electricity grid collapses

Nigeria’s power transmission grid collapsed on Tuesday night, a development that led to widespread blackout across the country. It ...

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Nigeria’s electricity grid collapses

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