List of 23 Nigerians to be executed in Saudi Arabia

Saudi authorities have revealed that at least 23 Nigerians are currently on the death row in Saudi Arabia for drug-related offences and may executed anytime from now.

In a report, The Nation newspaper said the Nigerians were convicted for contravening the narcotic and psychotropic substances control law, which is punishable by death.

They were said to have been arrested between 2016 and 2017 at King Abdul-Aziz International Airport, Jeddah and Prince Muhammad bin Abdu- Aziz International Airport, Madinah having concealed the banned substances in their rectums, the Saudi document revealed.

The names of the convicted persons were given as:

Adeniyi Adebayo Zikri
Tunde Ibrahim
Jimoh Idhola Lawal
Lolo Babatunde
Sulaiman Tunde
Idris Adewuumi Adepoju
Abdul Raimi Awela Ajibola
Yusuf Makeen Ajiboye
Adam Idris Abubakar
Saka Zakaria
Biola Lawal
Isa Abubakar Adam
Ibrahim Chiroma
Hafis Amosu
Aliu Muhammad
Funmilayo Omoyemi Bishi
Mistura Yekini
Amina Ajoke Alobi
Kuburat Ibrahim
Alaja Olufunke Alalaoe Abdulqadir
Fawsat Balagun Alabi
Aisha Muhammad Amira
Adebayo Zakariya.

This is coming a few weeks after the Saudi authorities executed Kudirat Afolabi for drug trafficking and Saheed Sobade, another Nigerian, reportedly nabbed with 1,183 grams of cocaine powder in Jeddah.

- PM NEWS

Gunmen kidnap man, wife in Kogi

The Commissioner of Police in Kogi, Mr Hakeem Busari, on Monday, confirmed the kidnap of one Mr Henshaw Ativie and his wife in the state on Sunday by unknown gunmen.

Busari told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja that the husband and the wife were kidnapped along Itakpe-Adogo road in Adavi Local Government Area of the state.

He said that the couple, their son, 7, and twin daughters, 4, were travelling to Edo in their Jeep when they ran into the kidnappers on Sunday afternoon.

The police commissioner said that the abductors forced the vehicle to stop by shooting at the tyres before ordering the occupants to come down.

According to him, the kidnappers later led the man and his wife into the nearby bush and left the three children stranded by the road side.

He said that policemen deployed to the scene discovered that one of the twins was hit by a bullet fired by the kidnappers.

The police commissioner said that the girl had been taken to hospital for treatment while the remaining two children and the vehicle were in police custody.

He promised that the men of “Operation Puff Adder” recently deployed to the state were already on trail of the kidnappers, giving assurance that the couple would be rescued soon.

- DAILY POST

Messi earns 31 times more than Iwobi as Arsenal publish wages of players

English newspaper, the Daily Mirror, has published the wages of all the Arsenal first-team players.

Nigerian star, Alex Iwobi, is, however, among the least paid players at the London club despite penning a new contract last summer.

Lionel Messi of Barcelona earns 31 times more than the Nigerian forward.

The Hale End Academy product is the 18th highest earner at the Emirates Stadium outfit.

Iwobi takes home weekly wages of around £70,000.

By converting his wages to euros, Iwobi takes home €4.2 million per annum, approximately N1.68 billion in Nigerian currency.

If compared to Messi, who is the highest paid player in the world, with 130m euros per year, it 31 times more than Iwobi.

Mesut Ozil is the highest earner at Arsenal, with wages of £350,000-a-week.

The German is followed by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan at £180,000-a-week each.

Calum Chambers, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Krystian Bielik, who all receive £25,000 a week, are the least paid players at Arsenal.

- DAILY POST

NUC processing applications for 303 new private universities

The National Universities Commission (NUC) says it is currently processing applications for 303 new private universities to cater for the demand of tertiary education in the country.

NAN reports that the Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed made this known at a two-day National Summit on Private Universities on Monday in Abuja.

The summit had as its theme: “Private University Education Delivery in Nigeria: Challenges and Opportunities.’’

Rasheed explained that applications were received from groups of individuals, corporate organisations, foundations and faith-based organisations from all over the country.

The executive secretary, while delivering a lead paper at the maiden edition of the summit, said the country currently had 170 universities out of which 79 were private with 38, representing 48.11 per cent owned by faith-based organisations.

He said 41 universities, representing 51.89 per cent were owned by corporate bodies, foundations or individuals.

Rasheed noted that although there were many private universities in the country, most of them were still unable to fulfil their admission quotas as they admitted barely 6 per cent of the total university admissions in the country per session.

He, therefore, said that this challenge was not enough to stop the issuance of licenses, as Nigeria needed more universities to cope with the high demand for university education.

He listed some challenges private universities were faced with to include non-availability of quality infrastructure and facilities, merit-based student admission, staffing and sustainable funding, among others.

- DAILY POST 

US embassy: We don’t enjoy denying Nigerians visa

The United States embassy in Nigeria says its visa officers do not enjoy denying Nigerians visa.

In a Facebook post on Monday, the embassy said this is contrary to the opinion held by most Nigerians.

It said there are some questions often misunderstood by applicants which earn them a rejection.

The embassy said the first step to securing a US visa is to complete the DS 160 form correctly.

“Contrary to popular opinion, visa officers do not enjoy handing anyone the 214b refusal letter,” the post read.

“Proof: Visa Officers will be live on Facebook to talk about some of the commonly misunderstood questions on the DS 160 and help you improve your next application.”

The embassy said its officers will be on a Facebook Live session at 2pm on Wednesday to answer visa questions and discuss common mistakes seen on the DS 160.

However, some rejected applicants disagreed with the position of the embassy as they recounted their unpleasant experiences.

One Eunice Erusiafe said his son was denied visa thrice while intending to visit the US for a surgery.

“My son was denied 3 times without any reason, he was going 4 a open heart surgery,(congenital heart defect) d boy is going tru a lot of pains right now I pray God sends help 2 us,” she wrote.

Ufoeze Ugo said she was rejected for admitting that she wasn’t married.

“To think I stood before a staff and the first thing he asked me was What does your husband do? I answered “Sir, I am not married” the next thing I heard was sorry ma you are not qualified for this visa. So it’s now a must to be married,” Ugo said.

“When people are sincere they are denied, I can’t lie because I want to go to another man’s land. Anyway na me find them go. Till Wednesday afternoon.”

Magnus Nwanonenyi said he was invited by a company in US in 2005 to attend a-three day conference but was denied visa with no reason given.

- THECABLE

‘N13m for phone calls’, ‘N500m for hosting guests’ — Akeredolu’s 2019 budget

A total of N13 million was budgeted for telephone calls in the office of Rotimi Akeredolu, governor of Ondo state, in 2019.

The office of Agbola Ajayi, Akeredolu’s deputy got N5 million, still for telephone calls while N2 million was set aside for telephone calls in the office of the senior special assistants to the governor.

This provision was made in the budget passed by the Ondo house of assembly in January but made public last week.

In a copy of the budget seen by TheCable, N1.066 billion was provided for gift items during festivals and children’s party as well as hosting of state guests during special events in the office of the governor.

The amount also covers donations to unspecified beneficiaries. N50 million was provided for donations in Ajayi’s office.

The breakdown, which was published under special programmes in the 2019 estimates, has N500 million earmarked for “hosting of state guests during special events”.

Also a total of N336 million was also budgeted to cater for gift items during festivities and children parties, just as N230 million was set aside for donations.

The governor’s office also has N107 million on local travel and transport; N2 million on electricity and N25 million for office stationery and computer consumables.

Also to be spent is N13 million for printing of security documents, N53 million for maintenance of motor vehicle and transport equipment, N12 million for maintenance of office furniture, N19 million for local training, N150 million for refreshment and meals and N26 million for welfare package.

When he presented the bill to the lawmakers in December, Akeredolu had said the main objective of the budget was to advance the state to the “next level” through completion of ongoing projects.

- THECABLE

Nigerian birth registration figure hits 29m

An evaluation report in Abuja on Monday revealed that a birth registration programme implemented by the National Population Commission (NPopC), with support from UNICEF, has seen the number of children between the ages of zero and 17 years registered in Nigeria hit 29 million.

According to the report, the programme increased by more than 100 per cent the number of children registered for under one year of age, up from three million in 2012 to 11 million in 2016.

“Low rates of birth registration is a challenge in Nigeria,” UNICEF representative in Nigeria, Mohamed Fall, said.

“In 2011, the birth registration rate was 41 percent, which means that three in every five children were not registered. This lack of birth registration negatively affects a child’s ability to access his or her right to health care, education and many other rights.”

The programme, which was initiated to accelerate birth registration rates, particularly for children under the age of five between 2012 and 2016, has made significant improvements in strengthening the birth registration system in Nigeria.

At the level of infrastructure, the numbers of NPopC registrars/centres increased to nearly 4000 in 2016 from about 3,000 in 2012, helping to achieve a harmonized, accessible and efficient birth registration system, which now functions as an integral part of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) in Nigeria.

The programme’s use of ICT tools for birth registration introduced target-driven performance in all of the 774 local government areas in Nigeria. The LGAs now have specified targets, reports and performance ranking.

The report asked NPopC, as a primary service provider, to take “greater ownership and a proactive approach” on registration of newborn children and all other children who are still unregistered. It also advised the population body to prioritize digitization, advocacy and lobbying for more funds to effectively implement the Strategic CRVS Plan (2018-2022).

Among key benefits of the programme include fully sustained partnership and convergence with health interventions; innovative use of ICT tools and applications; and a strong link with the national CRVS Strategic Plan (2018-22).

Birth registration remains pivotal to child well being in Nigeria, Overall survey results, as part of the evaluation, indicate that nearly half of the survey respondents perceived that an increase in birth registration can help reduce child rights violations.

Meanwhile, UNICEF is this year marking the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child which calls for all children to have their birth legally registered, even as the world body pledges its continued commitment to support inter-agency collaboration to achieve accelerated birth registration so that no child is left behind.

- thecable