Nigeria News
U.S. Slowly Opening Up Commercial Drone Industry
The Federal Aviation Administration’s recent certification of two expensive unmanned aircraft for commercial use further opens up the U.S. market for drones, but cheaper unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will still have to operate in regulatory limbo. The drone industry was heartened by the FAA’s decision in late July to greenlight Boeing Co’s (BA.N) Insitu ScanEagle and AeroVironment Inc’s (AVAV.O) Puma, in the first such U.S. certification of drones for commercial use. These remote aircraft weigh less than 50 pounds 22 kilograms), have wingspans of about 4.5 feet and come with a hefty estimated price tag of $ 100,000 each. Their approval is seen as a first step in unleashing a potentially multibillion-dollar industry that so far has been largely limited to military and law enforcement applications. In the meantime, however, dozens of companies are chomping at the bit for the FAA to certify their own more affordable drones, saying there is no way farmers and many others can invest in the type of UAVs that received certification last month. The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), an industry group, hailed the FAA’s certification of the two drones. “This is a huge step forward and this is a big deal for our industry,” said Ben Gielow, government relations manager for the group. Congress in early 2012 passed legislation calling on the FAA to write rules by 2015 that would govern the commercial operation of drones that can be used for everything from spraying pesticides on farmland to catching exotic-animal poachers to monitoring sport events. Aviation and aerospace industry research firm Teal Group has estimated that annual spending on drones around the world will almost double to $ 11.4 billion by 2022. AUVSI has estimated the industry could contribute more than $ 80 billion to the U.S. economy over a decade. The FAA is taking a cautious approach to the controversial aircraft. The U.S. government’s use of weaponized drones to remotely kill foreign combatants has sparked a fierce debate, while privacy advocates fear a commercial explosion of big-brother-like drones. Rory Paul, chief executive of Volt Aerial Robotics, a St. Louis-based company, said the efficiency gains from using UAVs to scout and map farmland have prompted some farmers to use lower-priced drones in spite of FAA regulations. “The FAA doesn’t have inspectors running around the heartland looking for people with UAVs,” Paul said. Paul has provided a number of farmers with his company’s Octane quadcopters, which cost $ 10,770 each. He also sells a fixed-wing UAV called the WaveSight for about $ 50,000. The FAA says it will try to stop unauthorized commercial activity if it becomes known but adds that it will resort to civil penalties only in extreme cases. “We really would only pursue a civil penalty if someone was operating an unmanned aircraft in a reckless manner,” said FAA spokesman Les Dorr. ‘GIANT LEAP’ The FAA’s interest in nudging along the commercial drone industry predates the 2012 legislation. The agency in 2009 created a Unmanned Aircraft Program Office to better organize its certification process, and in March of this year said it is still developing a plan to speed integration of civil drones into the national air space. To date, the FAA has mostly issued certifications for public safety and law enforcement purposes, including firefighting, border control and search-and-rescue missions. As of February 15, 2013, there were 327 active drone certifications. But once a regulatory framework is in place, the FAA estimates, 7,500 commercial drones will be viable within five years. The FAA called its certification of the ScanEagle and Puma a “giant leap” in the commercialization of drones. In a statement after it certified the Boeing and AeroVironment drones, the FAA said a major energy company plans to fly the ScanEagle off the Alaska coast in August to survey ice flows and whale migration in Arctic oil exploration areas. The Puma, meanwhile, will be used for oil spill monitoring and wildlife surveillance over the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean. Oil major ConocoPhillips (COP.N) confirmed it has been working with the FAA on the “regulatory and safety aspects” of unmanned aircraft but deferred further explanation until later this summer. In its next major step, the FAA is expected later this year to announce six test sites for unmanned aircraft, completing another requirement of the 2012 legislation. Still, not everyone is happy with the FAA’s pace. Gielow from the industry group AUVSI said that despite the FAA’s commitment to the sector, he is concerned that the agency is not on track for the 2015 congressionally mandated target. And Paul of Volt Aerial Robotics said the FAA has not yet done enough to tap into one of the biggest customer bases – farmers. “(The FAA) thinks they’re going to have systems like the ScanEagle operating in agriculture, but that’s not the case,” Paul said. “They’re simply too expensive.”
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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
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
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.
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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