NEWS
Panic As Rainstorm Demolishes 105 Buildings In Ekiti
Over 105 buildings in Oke-Ako, Ikole local Government Area of Ekiti State were destroyed and several people rendered homeless by a two-hour torrential downpour on Friday evening.
The community was filled with woes, gnashing of teeth, and wailing as a result of the destruction. Also, the downpour destroyed some electricity facilities in the town, leaving the residents in total blackout.
While on a visit to the affected area on Saturday, Governor Biodun Oyebanji, condoled with the residents and assured them of government support to the affected victims.
Speaking during on- the -spot assessment of the level of havoc wreaked on the town, Oyebanji, represented by his Deputy, Chief (Mrs) Monisade Afuye, described the occurrence as highly devastating.
The Deputy Governor was conducted round the affected areas by the Regent of the town, Her Royal Highness Ogunbiyi Tinuade Adebayo, the lawmaker representing Ikole Constituency 2, Hon Adeoye Aribasoye and the Chairman, Ajoni Local Council Development Area, Hon Michael Ogungbemi.
A statement by the Special Assistant Media to the Deputy Governor, Victor Ogunje, on Saturday, quoted the Governor as expressing delight that no life was lost during the stormy rainfall.
“On behalf of his Excellency, Governor Biodun Oyebanji, I sympathise with you on the destruction caused by rainstorm to many residential buildings and electricity poles in this town , which we believe must have affected the wellbeing of the victims.
“Information at our disposal and on- the- spot assessment revealed that roofs of scores of residential buildings and electricity facilities were destroyed during the stormy rainfall, thereby rendering many homeless and helpless.
“We sympathise with the victims at this trying times and plead for calmness, in the sense that natural disaster of this nature is one occurrence that is difficult to control. But with personal precautions and right efforts, its effects can be minimised.
“That was why the Governor Oyebanji’s administration is ready to support interested individuals to go into tree planting and the programmes will soon be rolled out to safeguard our environment and minimise havocs being wreaked on our buildings by rainstorm.
“Tree planting is very essential. I observed that landlords here are not planting trees, I am not seeing them standing beside our houses. Let us inculcate the habit of tree planting to serve as wind breakers against storm.
“Let me also assure you that the state government won’t abandon you and allow you to regret in this current devastating conditions. We shall give all the necessary support to mitigate whatever effect this situation must have caused to your lives”.
The governor, who enlivened the spirits of the affected landlords, said the State government in collaboration with the National Emergency Management Agency(NEMA), recently gave palliatives to scores of flood victims to put a soothing balm on their pains.
The governor added; ” I believe that such laudable gestures shall be extended to you in due course. The fact that we are here shows that we care about you. If we don’t like you, we won’t have come. We care about you, we love and we will continue to support you.
“Very soon, the government will despatch the palliatives to the victims. Be peaceful and take steps to install a substantive monarch to fully take charge for this town to witness radical development. You can’t be without an Oba. That is the best way for you to ensure steady development”.
Hon. Adeoye Aribasoye, the representative of the constituency in the House of Assembly, gave assurances that relief would be provided to the victims. He praised the current government as compassionate and focused on the welfare of the masses.
Aribasoye urged the victims to remain calm and trust in the present administration, assuring them that assistance would be given to help them recover their losses.
According to Mr. Jide Borode, the General Manager of the Ekiti State Emergency Management Agency, the impact of the rainstorm could have been reduced if landlords had participated in the state government’s tree-planting initiative.
The President of the African School of Governance, Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu has admonished state actors against resorting to brutal force in the bid to muscle out separatist agitators.
In the aftermath of Mazi Simon Ekpa, the Finland based Biafran nationalist agitator being caught in legal web and the Nigerian government moving swiftly to seek his repatriation, the former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has cautioned that ‘We either fix our problems, or our problems will eventually “fix” us. No alternative to a renegotiated union.’
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The political economist, while expressing his hope in Nigeria, made it clear that “hope is not a strategy”.
He bared his mind in a series of posts on his verified handle on micro-blogging site, X on Friday.
Moghalu wrote, “Despite sustained contemporary difficulties, I am hopeful about Nigeria. But hope is not a strategy. We need to improve state capacity for effective governance.
“We either fix our problems, or our problems will eventually “fix” us. No alternative to a renegotiated union.
“We must learn to be honest with ourselves and address the root causes of our problems. Why ignore them, when the problem is actually quite solvable? The problem with continuing with this approach is that when the danger crystallizes, those who thought they were benefiting from
Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has criticized the federal government’s plan to secure an additional N1.7 trillion loan through Eurobonds to cover a shortfall in the 2024 budget, describing the borrowing as unsustainable and harmful to Nigeria’s economy.
In a statement shared on Thursday via his X (formerly Twitter) handle, Atiku accused the Bola Tinubu-led administration of burdening Nigerians with debt while failing to provide clear answers about the country’s fiscal challenges.
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He also faulted the National Assembly for enabling what he called a “voracious appetite” for loans.
The former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate expressed alarm over a recent World Bank report ranking Nigeria as the third most indebted country to the International Development Association (IDA), calling the development troubling.
“The recent report released by the World Bank, showing Nigeria as the third most indebted country to the International Development Association (IDA), is very concerning,” Atiku stated.
He raised further concerns about the government’s decision to benchmark the proposed loan at an exchange rate of 1 USD to N800, despite the Central Bank of Nigeria’s official rate being over N1,600.
“What makes this particular loan proposal even more concerning is that it is benchmarked at the exchange rate of 1 USD to N800, whereas the current exchange rate from the Central Bank of Nigeria stands at over N1,600 to 1 USD,” he said.
Atiku questioned the need for additional borrowing, given the government’s earlier claims of record-high revenue collection.
“In July this year, Tinubu boasted that the FIRS and Customs under his watch had collected all-time high revenues to finance the budget. Why are they still borrowing?” he said
He accused the government of a lack of transparency, describing the borrowing spree as detrimental to Nigerians already struggling under economic hardship.
“There is something that they are not telling Nigerians, even as they are being crushed by a combination of their failed trial-and-error policies and loan rackets.”
Atiku also referenced a report by BudgIT, a budget monitoring group, which criticized the 2024 budget for its inefficiencies.
He alleged that corruption, rather than infrastructure or development needs, was driving the government’s borrowing decisions.
“These loans are powered by corruption and not for infrastructure and development needs. This voracious appetite for humongous loans is deeply concerning,” he said.
Reflecting on Nigeria’s financial history, Atiku lamented the return to significant foreign indebtedness just years after former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration cleared the country’s debt.
“It is agonizing to see that just a few years after the Obasanjo administration took us out of foreign indebtedness, we are today back at the top spot in the same conundrum,” he stated.
He called for a more cautious approach to borrowing, urging the government to prioritize fiscal responsibility and transparency to avoid worsening Nigeria’s economic challenges.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has taken a historic step, issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The charges include crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed during Israel’s recent assault on Gaza.
In a detailed statement, the ICC accused the Israeli leaders of “intentionally and knowingly depriving the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity.”
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The ICC’s move marks a significant escalation in international scrutiny of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Netanyahu and Gallant are alleged to have orchestrated policies that caused severe harm to the civilian population in Gaza, leading to widespread condemnation from human rights organizations.
Alongside the charges against Israeli officials, the ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif. Deif has long been a central figure in Hamas’s military operations. Israel’s military claims to have killed him in a July airstrike, although this has not been independently verified.
The warrants highlight growing calls for accountability amid the ongoing conflict in the region. The ICC’s actions are likely to provoke heated debate and may complicate diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving the crisis.
With the warrants issued, global attention now turns to how the international community will respond and whether any practical steps will be taken to enforce them.
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