News

By Aisar Fagge

The heavy downpour has wreaked havoc in Jigawa communities, leading to the destruction of many houses, shops and prosperities worth millions of naira in the areas.

The rain that started Monday night, 1st August 2022, lasted for hours and had claimed the lives of yet to be identified a number of people, especially small kids.

The Daily Reality gathered that the communities affected included; Hadejia, Kafin Hausa, Kiri-Kasamma and some parts of Garun-Gabas, Tandanu and Bulangu of Jigawa state, respectively.

Our reporter gathered that the flood has also washed away many farms in the communities, and the development that the residents decried has struck terror in them.

Climate change that leads to flooding is one of the serious challenges rocking many countries, which affects people’s lives and health in various ways.

In another similar situation, a morning downpour in Bajoga town of Funakaye Local Government Area of Gombe State had claimed the lives of people and destructed houses and shops in the community.

Climate change: More floods in Nigeria

Experts have foresighted that there would be more floods in Nigeria in the next two months because of climate change.

The Director General/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Prof Mansur Bako Matazu, has warned Nigerians to brace up for more rains in the next two months.

Mu’azu disclosed this on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Monday, August 2nd, 2022, while speaking on flooding wreaking havoc across Nigeria in recent weeks.

However, Mu’azu also lamented that Nigerians keep cutting down trees and dumping refuses in drainage channels.

He added that the NiMeT CEO organisation had issued several advisories about flooding earlier, to which Nigerians failed to adhere.

In his words, Matazu said: “There will be increased rainfall intensity in the next two months or so. This is the most active period – July, August and September. We are going to see more floods.”

NEMA: 233 LGs in 32 states prone to flooding

No fewer than 233 local government areas in 32 states and the Federal Capital Territory have been predicted to experience flooding in 2022.

The Director-General, National Emergency Management Agency, Mr Mustapha Ahmed, raised the alarm Tuesday in Abuja.

Ahmed, who said the discovery was a result of the 2022 Seasonal Climate Prediction, stated, “Efforts must be made to mitigate and respond effectively to flooding.”

By Muhammad Aminu

A 17-year-old girl, simply identified as Safiya from Garin Dau village in Warawa Local Government Area of Kano State, has been found lifelessly hanged.

Residents of the village who spoke to BBC Hausa Service said they were shocked by the incident because the late teenage girl was a calm and responsible girl.

According to some villagers, the girl might have killed herself because of the forced marriage her parents planned to do for her.

However, the parents and other sources in the family countered the allegation, adding that she was not through with her secondary education yet not to talk of marrying her off.

Kano State Police Command confirmed that the young lady had been found dead, but an investigation has commenced to ascertain why she hanged herself.

Police Public Relations Officer, SP Abdullahi Kiyawa, added that it is the investigation that they can confirm whether she committed suicide by hanging herself or not.

Late Safiya was a class 2 junior secondary school student before her sudden death.

By Uzair Adam Imam

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has fined Trust Television Network (Trust TV) N5 million for exposing banditiry.

In March 5th, 2022, the station aired a documentary titled “Nigeria’s Banditry: The Inside Story” that went viral.

According to the station, the NBC, in a letter dated August 3, 2022, which was signed by its Director General, Balarabe Shehu Illela, said the fine was imposed on Trust TV because its broadcast of the said documentary.

NBC argued that the documentary contravened sections of the National Broadcasting Code.

In a statement, the management of Media Trust Group said, “While we are currently studying the Commission’s action and weighing our options, we wish to state unequivocally that as a television station, we believe we were acting in the public interest by shedding light on the thorny issue of banditry and how it is affecting millions of citizens of our country.

“The documentary traces the root of the communal tensions and systemic inadequacies which led to the armed conflict that is setting the stage for another grand humanitarian crisis in Nigeria.

“It presents insights into the intersection of injustice, ethnicity and bad governance as drivers of the conflict. It also aggregates voices of experts and key actors towards finding solutions, including those of the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Senator Saidu Mohammed Dansadau, who hails from one the worst hit communities in Zamfara State.”

By Aisar Fagge

Dr Aminu Magashi Garba Foundation (AMG) has donated the sum of one million naira to a Youth Academy Initiative (YOSPIS) Tuesday, August 2nd, 2022.

Zainab Nasir Ahmad, the YOSPIS Executive Director, disclosed this during the first anniversary of the Youth Academy Initiative.

Speaking at the event, Ahmad unveiled some of the achievements they recorded so far to include a popular live radio program, Hasken Matasa, which targeted more than two million audience.

However, she added that it was part the achievements they so far recorded the collaborative empowerment of 150 women, celebrating World NGO Day in partnership with Kano State Special Adviser on Non-Governmental Organisations.

Other achievements include; Sensitizing 14 Communities in Kano on Menstrual Hygiene and donating sanitary pads to seven hundred adolescents girls in commemoration of World Menstrual Hygiene Day, initiating a monthly seminar series to the civil society organisations, supporting persons living with disability with sanitary pads at Tudun-Maliki Special Education School among others.

Yet, we have lot of challenges – Zainab

It is no longer bizarre that successes and challenges go hand in hand. Zainab also went on to mention some of the challenges she faced since her resuming duty as the Executive Director.

She decried inadequate source of funding, lack of permanent office space and official vehicle as part of the challenges faced by her organisation in the last year.

She added that YOSPIS is seriously engaged in writing and submitting proposals to potential donors, mobilise resources from members and other stakeholders.

Dr Aminu Magashi has also called on the stakeholders to engage and contribute more for youth development for the better Nigeria.

By Aisar Fagge

The Aminu Magashi Garba Foundation (AMG) in collaboration with the Department of Skills Acquisition and Training and Centre for Technology Development (CTD) have commenced the training of 10 dropout youth in Kaduna.

The program which started Tuesday, August 2nd, 2022, aimed at giving the dropout youth, within the age of 12-15, a skill on automobile repairs.

The dropout youth were sponsored by the AMG Foundation to undergo eight weeks training and four weeks internship at Panteka market.

It was gathered that the sum of N1.2million was paid by the foundation to give the training to the youth.

AMG hold on the belief that the skill will give them automatic job, improve their economic status, promote peace and help in addressing the challenge of insecurity in our society.

The Daily Reality recalls how AMG Foundation donated the sum of one million naira to the Youth Academy Initiative (YOSPIS) Tuesday, August 2nd, 2022 for similar activities.

Among the people that graced the event were: Engr. Auwal S. Anwar, Director, Centre for Technology Department Kaduna Polytechnic, Mallam Bashir Lawan, Manager, Out-Of-School program of the Centre and Hon. Muhammad Usman, former Commissioner of Education.

Others were: Kaduna State and former member House of Reps, Maimuna Abdulrahman, Admin and Finance Manager, AMG Foundation, Senior Program and Partnership Officer, AMG Foundation among others.

At the end of the event, philanthropists from Northern Nigerian states were urged to emulate Dr Aminu Magashi in rescuing the future of the youths who are now the major culprits of phone-snatching – a menace that ravaged many states in Nigeria.

By Muhammad Sabiu

Chevening has started receiving applications from interested persons for its fully-funded one-year master’s scholarships programme, a Facebook post by the scholarship body stated.

Successful applicants will be given the scholarship opportunity to travel and study at a university in the United Kingdom to further their education.

Describing the scheme on its website, Chevening states: “Chevening is the UK government’s international scholarships programme. Funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and partner organisations, we offer awards to study in the UK for one year on a fully funded master’s degree course.

“Successful Chevening candidates come from a diverse range of countries and backgrounds, but they all demonstrate the passion, vision and skills needed to shape a better world.”

Interested persons are advised to click this link: www.chevening.org/apply in order to check their eligibility status and start their applications afterwards.

By Uzair Adam Imam

Sam Omatseye, a veteran journalist, has alleged death threat from the supporters of Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

Omatseye had asked Obi to call his supporters to order in a tweet Tuesday, raising that Obi should be held responsible if anything happened to him.

“Mr. Peter Obi, call your supporters to order. They are calling and issuing death threats. If anything happens to me, you will be held responsible!,” he tweeted.

The Daily Reality learned that this was however coming barely 24 hours after Omatseye’s latest article in The Nation newspaper titled ‘Obi-tuary’.

It was gathered that Omatseye in the piece described Obi as a shelter for miscreants, saying, “Obi has turned out to be an excuse for even closet Biafrans to betray open emotions about Biafra without being accused of it.

“This includes intellectuals who did not show mercy to him while he reigned in Anambra as a pharisaic chief executive. It is like wearing a colour beneath another colour. Obi has become a shelter for both miscreants and activists of the crowd.”

By Muhammad Aminu

Directors in Kano-based Hausa film industry popularly known as Kannywood have reacted to the recent directive banning use of police kits in films by the NIgeria’s Inspector General of Police (IGP).

IGP Usman Baba, in a statement issued in Abuja earlier signed by the Police Spokesman, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, announced that filmmakers, comedians and skit makers have been banned from using police uniforms and other skits in their acts without explicit permission from the police as the law entails.

The Statement added that the actors stop portraying the Nigeria Police in badlight or ridiculing it in their activities.

A prominent director in Kannywood, Aminu Saira, told BBC Hausa that they will consider or study the directive if it is in line with the Nigeria’s laws they would comply with it.

Saira further said that if their findings reveal that they are not contravening any law of the land, they will join hands with Nollywood to challenge the directive in a court of law.

He said: “The Police and Filmmakers are all guided by NIgeria’s laws. All people residing in Nigeria must subject themselves to NIgeria’s laws.

“So, if NIgeria’s law prohibits use of police kits in films, we must abide by that, we must respect the law of the land. We have no alternative.

“But if the law doesn’t prohibit it, then we will do everything jointly with Nollywood to seek legal interpretation of the law whether or not police kits can be used.”

According to him, Kannywood has already been seeking permission on police-related scenes in their films from Kano State Commissioner of Police.

He said due to some incidents that happened in the past, they were ordered to seek for permission in any role relating to police in their films.

“Right now, there is a company that was certified by the Police which specializes in processing anything related to police such as guns, uniform etc. that would be used in films. You send the script to them and they will consider it and seek permission from the police,” the director added.

Another director, Aminu Bono, who said that there was little or no consultation from the IGP argued that it is globally not possible to restrict use of uniforms such as lawyers, soldiers or doctors’ by filmmakers because they are simply replicating realities of their respective societies.

He noted that in all their films, they acquire permit from the police.

“We in Kano State, there is a department that takes care of such things under Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO). The Police sometimes visit our shooting locations and guide us on how to do things related to police activities.

“We did films that affect the police directly where we used facilities of Kano Police Command Headquarters. In flms like ‘Kwana Casa’in and ‘Barazana’, we worked closely with the police.

He further revealed that the police have representation in Kano State Films Censorship Board where Kannywood films are sieved prior to their public debut.

He said that the IGP can still review this order with informed discussion with relevant stakeholders.

By Uzair Adam Imam

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says the Northwest is leading in voter registration with the total number of 22,672,373 prospective voters.

The region is made up of seven states: Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa, Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto and Kebbi.

According to the INEC, a total of 96,303,016 eligible voters have registered to vote in next year’s general election.

However, Northwest was said to have trailed by the Southwest, which has 18,332,191 voters. The zone is made of the six states of Lagos, Oyo, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti.

Northcentral is third with 15,680,438, followed by Southsouth with 15,299,374; Northeast, 12,820,363 and Southeast, 11,498,277.

On Sunday July 31, the INEC had closed its registration portal, bringing the exercise to a halt.

“The CVR exercise has been suspended. Access to log-in to check the status of your completed applications will soon be restored,” notice on the INEC website stated.

By Muhammad Aminu

Kano State Police Command has intercepted five hundred packets of drugs suspected to be tramadol tablets imported into the State.

The Police Public Relations Officer SP Abdullahi Kiyawa disclosed this in a statement issued in Kano, Monday, 1st August, 2022.

He said Abba Musa, 30, and Suleiman Danwawu, 29, all of Rijiyar Zaki Quarters have been apprehended in connection with the intercepted consignment.

According to him, the police “intercepted one Abba Musa, ‘m’, 30 years old, of Rijiyar Zaki Quarters Kano, driven an unregistered white coloured Honda Accord 2016 Model Motor Vehicle containing Five Hundred Packets of suspected Tramadol Tablets, valued Twenty Five Million Naira (N25,000,000:00) packed inside the Motor Vehicle boot.

“On investigation, the suspect confessed that the Motor Vehicle belonged to his friend, Sulaiman Danwawu, ‘m’, 29 years old, of Rijiyar Zaki Quarters Kano, and that Sulaiman directed him to hand over the Motor Vehicle to someone at ‘Yan Kaba Quarters Kano.

“Sulaiman was subsequently arrested. Sulaiman confessed that, the vehicle belonged to him, and that he transported the Tramadol Tablets from Onitsha, Anambra State with the intent to sell them in Kano.”

SP Kiyawa noted that the suspects have been moved to the Police Criminal Investigation Department, Narcotics Section for discreet investigation prior to subsequent necessary action.