RAPE: 10-year jail term and N1m fine for kane rapist

A Federal High Court sitting in Kano, North-West Nigeria has convicted 36-year-old Abdulkarim Yahaya Danmallam for raping a 9-year-old (name withheld to protect her identity).

The court consequently sentenced Danmallam to 10 years imprisonment and ordered him to pay compulsory fine of N1 million.

Justice Jude Dagat said the offense is a despicable act against a minor and the punishment should serve as deterrence to others.

The convict, according to evidence before the court, had lured his victim with N10 to his apartment and had carnal knowledge of her, committing an offense punishable under Section 16 subsection 1 of Trafficking in Persons Prohibition, Enforcement and Administration Act 2015.

Ruling on pleas for leniency by the defense counsel, Murtala Alimi, Justice Dagat said such act should be discouraged in the society.

The court also sentenced one Francis Igho to 7 years imprisonment for committing advance fee fraud with a restitution order to pay his victims the sum of N850, 000

Source: AITNEWS

MORE TEACHERS WILL BE RECRUITED, PRESIDENT BUHARI TELLS NUT

President Muhammad Buhari says the federal government is ready to engage more qualified teachers to increase the teacher to pupil ratio in the country.

Buhari stated this in Abuja, the nation’s capital on Tuesday when he received the leadership of the Nigeria union of teachers, nut at the presidential villa.

The president acknowledged that Nigeria has a deficit of teachers, which his administration is addressing through the n-power teach volunteers scheme under the national social investment programme, NSIP.

He described the teaching profession as one of the most noble, noting that teachers have been at the forefront of cultivating young minds to be innovative and inventive.

In his remark, the nut president, Idris Nasir commended the Buhari administration’s giant strides in the education sector and appealed to the president to give a presidential assent to the bill on teachers retirement age and the teachers special salary structure, TSSS among others.

The nut leadership also praised the president on the proposed establishment of six federal colleges of education across the geo-political zones of the country

Source: AITNEWS

VAT INCREASE: Trade Union Congress of Nigeria is kicking

The trade union congress of Nigeria has kicked against VAT increase. Read statement below

                     PRESS RELEASE

VAT INCREASE: ATTEMPTS TO OVERBURDEN CONSUMERS WILL BE RESISTED

The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) considers the aspect of the recently signed Finance Bill by the Federal Government that hikes the Value Added Tax (VAT) from 5.0 per cent to 7.5 per cent as a deliberate attempt to further overburden the common man and stifle businesses.

Multiple taxation is a bane to economic development anywhere in the world; hence most countries are reducing taxes to encourage Small Scale Businesses. We have heard about Nigeria doing well in the World Ease of Doing Business Index, but the experience in our country does not corroborate that claim. Any law that helps the government to generate more revenue at the expense of the public for us is anti-people and incapable of growing any economy.

According reports by the National Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment and underemployment rate is over 43.3 percent. By implication it means that most parents still feed their able-bodied youth even after graduation from the tertiary institution. It is indeed pathetic that the Federal Government appears to be more interested in collecting taxes than creating an enabling environment for businesses to thrive. Empirical evidences have shown that the poverty rate in the country has increased abysmally.

We see all these moves as a ploy to get back at the workers for asking for a review of the National Minimum Wage. This contradicts the promise of change the current administration made to Nigerians at the build -up of 2015 elections.

The Congress agrees that government cannot create all the jobs; at the same time a conducive environment should be provided to fertilise the efforts by individuals to set up businesses. Not much can be achieved if investors are daily grappling with taxes.  Government must begin to think out of the box to salvage the economy. Therefore 7.5 per cent increase in tax is a NO for the TUC.

Comrade Quadri Olaleye, FCIA             

President, TUC

Comrade (Barr.) Musa-Lawal Ozigi, mni

Secretary General, TUC

Nigerians will now pay 7.5 % VAT and not 5%

 

President Muhammadu Buhari  has signed into law the 2020 Finance Bill, bringing into effect the 7.5% VAT from 5%.

A statement issued by his special adviser on media and publicity Femi Adesina, With the assent, there will be more revenue to finance key government projects especially in the areas of health, education and critical infrastructure.

The president's assent on monday at the state house, was weeks after the National Assembly passage  and subsequently forwarded to the President.

President Buhari, while presenting the 2020 Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly, had also presented the Finance Bill and noting that the Bill has five strategic objectives, in terms of achieving incremental, but necessary changes to Nigeria's fiscal laws.

These objectives are; Promoting fiscal equity by mitigating instances of regressive taxation; Reforming domestic tax laws to align with global best practices; Introducing tax incentives for investments in infrastructure and capital markets; Supporting Micro, Small and Medium-sized businesses in line with our Ease of Doing Business Reforms; and Raising Revenues for Government.

The draft Finance Bill proposes an increase of the VAT rate from five per cent to 7.5 per cent , as such, the 2020 Appropriation Bill is based on the new VAT rate.

IPPIS: oil and gas senior staff association joins workers rejecting the payroll platform

The battle over the implementation of the integrated payroll and personnel information system, IPPIS may just be shifting to another body of workers

It was the academic staff union of universities, ASUU which has persistently rejected IPPIS although 2019, this time the petroleum and natural gas senior staff, PENGASSAN is asking government not to migrate them to the payroll system

PENGASSAN president, Ndukuka Ohaeri said this at a media briefing in lagos where the oil and gas workers also advised the federal government to adopt the nigeria liquefied model to revive the country's ailing refineries

Natural Resources; U.N reports about the West Africa’s wishful gold prospectors

IOM/Alexander Bee

Gold-mining in West Africa is often carried out by hand.

U.N News reports that the mining of gold in unregulated and often hand-dug pits in West Africa, can be a deadly occupation, but one which many impoverished people in the region are pushed into by necessity, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). 

 

An artisanal miner holds a small nugget of gold dug in Sikasso in Mali. IOM/Anna Pujol-Mazzini

Mali is Africa’s third biggest exporter of gold and a third of the country’s total production is estimated to come from artisanal mining in which over one million people are employed. 

Many are farmers who have migrated from neighbouring countries in the hope of supplementing the meagre incomes they earn from what is a seasonal occupation.

But, as demand for artisanal gold increases, so too does the number of people dying in poorly constructed mines.  

Read more here about how this precious metal continues to shine for some of West Africa’s poorest

UKRAINE AIRLINE CRASH: KOGI STATE MOURNS DEATH OF AN EBIRA MAN ON BOARD FLIGHT

 

 

A STORY ON AIT.LIVE SAYS KOGI STATE GOVERNOR YAHAYA BELLO HAS SYMPATHISED  WITH THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY, THE GOOD PEOPLE OF EBIRA LAND, AND NIGERIA AT LARGE FOR THE DEATH OF DAUDA ONORUOYIZA, WHO DIED ALONG WITH OTHERS IN AN UKRAINE INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES FLIGHT 752  ON THE 8TH OF JANUARY.

THE FLIGHT  FROM TEHRAN TO KIEV, WAS REPORTED SHOT DOWN SHORTLY AFTER  THE TAKEOFF FROM TEHRAN IMAM KHOMEINI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, BY THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTIONARY GUARD CORPS OF IRAN, WHICH ATTRIBUTED IT TO HUMAN ERROR.

GOVERNOR BELLO IN A STATEMENT MADE AVAILABLE TO JOURNALISTS BY HIS CHIEF PRESS SECRETARY, ONOGWU MUHAMMED SAID ONORUOIZA, AN AERONAUTIC ENGINEER WORKING WITH THE AIRLINE HAILED FROM OKEHI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF KOGI STATE WAS THE ONLY NIGERIAN IN THAT ILL-FATED AIR ACCIDENT.

THE GOVERNOR DESCRIBED THE INCIDENT AS SAD AND UNFORTUNATE FOR THE STATE TO HAVE LOST SUCH A PROMISING YOUNG ENGINEER IN SUCH A MANNER. 

THE GOVERNOR CALLED ON THE APPROPRIATE IRANIAN AND UKRAINIAN AUTHORITIES AND THE WORLD OVER TO CARRY OUT THOROUGH INVESTIGATION ON THE ILL FATED CRASH AND ENSURE THAT ANYONE FOUND WANTING IN SUCH GRIEVOUS AND NEEDLESS ERROR, FACED THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR ACTION.

HE PRAYED GOD TO GRANT THE FAMILY HE LEFT BEHIND THE FORTITUDE TO BEAR THE IRREPLACEABLE LOSS.

WHAT NEXT FOR TRCN, NOW THAT DECEMBER 31ST DEADLINE TO UNQUALIFIED TEACHERS LAPSE

The federal government of Nigeria in 2019 threatened to sack unqualified teachers who failed to register before December, 31, 2019 and it's already two weeks after with no statement from government

The Teachers registration council of Nigeria which has the mandate to set qualification examinations for teachers is yet to make any comment.

A story on ait.live recalls that the Registrar, teachers registration council, Professor Olusegun Ajiboye had in several press conferences and statements said that even though Nigeria needs 250,000 teachers annually to meet the demand, government will not hesitate to sack those who refuse to improve themselves

As schools resume for second term,  it remains to be seen who is leaving and who is qualified to teach in Nigerian schools

U.N @ 75: NO COUNTRY OR COMMUNTY CAN SOLVE WORLD'S COMPLEX PROBLEMS ALONE

As the U.N marks 75 years, secretary general Antonio Guterres says no country or community can solve the world's problems all alone

Guterres said this in a tweet

JAMB STOPS USE OF NATIONAL IDENTITY NUMBER, NIN FOR REGISTRATION IN 2020 UTME

No prospective candidate for the 2020 unifyed tertiary matriculation examinations will be needing the national identity number for registration

This is because  the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board JAMB has suspended the use of the National Identification Number for registration in the 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination UTME.

JAMB registra, professor  Ishaq Oloyede, who announced this while briefing journalists in Abuja on Saturday, said the move was to provide more time for candidates to get their national identification numbers.

The JAMB registrar said the suspension was also to allow for time to address some technical challenges being experienced by candidiates

Professor oloyede asked candidates to disregard the use of NIN and adhere to other means of registration made available by the board

He said JAMB  may consider the use of NIN on the 2021 test

Director General national identity management agency, Engineer Aliyu Azeez who was present at the briefing regretted the suspension blaming it on inadequate capturing centres across the country 

NIMC D.G said instead of about 4000 centres required for the rush they only have just around 1000 

JAMB registrar had uptill the last week of 2019 vowed that it will adhere strictly to the use of NIN which is a federal government policy asking agencies like JAMB  to rely on  the data from the National identity management agency, NIN

JAMB had on December 23, 2019 announced that sale of forms for 2020 UTME will begin on Monday, january 13, 2020 and the test slated for march, the registrar did not however talked about any shift in date for these schedules