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Insecurity affected operations at Kano airport -FAAN

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By Citizens Platform

The  Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has said insecurity issues in the ancient city of Kano is the reason for the  underutilisation of the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano.
The angency also said this has affected socio economic activities in the state.
While condemning the recent report which alleged that the airport was dormant the angency said the airport is being affected by the impact of the insecurity which has stifled most economic activities in the state.
According to the General Manager, Corporate Communications of FAAN, Yakubu Dati, media attacks against the project, especially the report that the international terminal of the Mallam Aminu Kano Airport has not been put to use after its remodelling was merely to score cheap political goals as the criticism stemmed from ignorance and mischief of some anti- progressive elements.
Datti who made this explanation in Lagos said: ‘This report alleged that there was sabotage by FAAN and the Ministry of Aviation to make the terminal and perhaps the airport dormant, but this is not true. We wish to state that Kano has been and will continue to be one of the major airports in Nigeria and it is because of the importance attached to the airport that FAAN embarked on rebuilding the domestic terminal which was commissioned in early 2011.”
Dati explained that the viability and utilisation of airport is dependent on passenger movement, adding that it would be difficult for economic activities to go on under threat to lives and property.
“If the terminal or the airport is alleged to be dormant, it means that there is low passenger movement and it is not the responsibility of FAAN or the Ministry of Aviation to attract the passengers to the airport. The under-utilisation of the airport could be explained by the security situation in Kano and we believe that if the state government is working effectively with the federal government which has made efforts to eliminate insurgents in the north, air travellers will start coming to Kano and airlines which had already been designated will feel safe to operate from the airport,” he said.
He added that the report against the Kano airport cited other airports such as the ones in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja and Enugu as airports that are active and supposedly with completed remodelled airport terminal facilities. He said these other airports are thriving because of the peace in these parts of the country.
“We also wish to say that in terms of facilities, the Kano airport is ahead of others in this country. Also Port Harcourt terminal project is yet to be completed and that for now, the remodelled terminal at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja is designated for domestic operations but both international and domestic services are still emanating from the facility until the international terminal is built.
“The problem of Kano airport is the issue of security.  If this newspaper (which carried the report) is actually the voice of the north, it should almost on daily basis write editorials on how to restore Kano to its glorious past. It is when this is done that the airport would begin to witness increased passenger movements that will boost the utilisation of the airport,” Datti said.
He noted that although the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos provides over 80 per cent of FAAN’s revenue, the Kano domestic and international airport terminals were completed before that of Lagos.
“In fact, work is still going on at the international terminal of the Lagos airport and it is hoped it will be commissioned later this year,” he said.
Datti also said contrary to the report that the conveyor belt at the Kano International airport takes two hours to deliver bags; the conveyor belt actually does that in five minutes.
“It is also mischievous for the newspaper to choose to interview anonymous persons who showed so much ignorance about the workings of the Kano airport, instead of talking to professionals who would give the reporters accurate information. Such accurate information that the conveyor belt installed at the Kano airport, will take five minutes and not two hours to move bags from the airside to passengers and that all equipment it mentioned, including X-ray machines have been installed and that the terminal is ready to facilitate passenger movement.
He declared: “The unseen hands influencing such subjective and decisive reports cannot claim ignorance of the fact that the airport remodelling projects began in the North with the commissioning of the Hajj Terminals in Kano and Kaduna airports by no less personalities than the Sultan of Sokoto and the speaker of the House of Representatives, respectively. Or are they claiming to be more “northerners” than these highly respected Northerners, including the Governor of Central Bank, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi who inaugurated airport and commended President Goodluck Jonathan especially for transforming the airport after many years of neglect?”

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Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.

Source: Citizens Platform

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Kano Transfers Over 1,000 Almajiris To Different States Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.

The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.

Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.

Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.

Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.

Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.

In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.

Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.

Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.

However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.

Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.

 

Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria

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Nigeria News

COVID-19: ‘Bakassi Boys’ Foil Attempt To Smuggle 24 Women Into Abia In Container

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By Ugochukwu Alaribe

Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.

The market women, said to be  from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.

Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.

A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.

Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that  smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.

 

Sourced From: Vanguard News

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Nigeria News

Woman Kills Her Maid Over Salary Request

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Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole

The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.

Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.

He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid  in January 2020.

‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.

She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.

He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.

The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police  Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.

Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.

He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’

He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.

Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.

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Boko Haram Attacks: Buhari Summons Urgent Meeting Of Service Chiefs

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President Buhari and the Service Chiefs in a meeting. (File photo)

Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend. 

He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart. 

Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.

The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad  problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”

The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad,  saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts.  This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”

When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose. 

Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them. 

Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter. 

“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said. 

 

Sourced From: Tribune

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