The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has appointed Malawian referee Philip Nkhakananga as the centre official for the Super Eagles’ 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matchday three clash against Libya.

Assisting Nkhakananga will be fellow Malawians Clemence Kanduku and Joseph Nyauti, who will serve as assistant referees one and two, respectively.

The fourth official for the match will be Keabetswe Dintwa from Botswana.Ghana’s Munkaila Nassam Adam has been designated as the match commissioner, while Issaka Boubacar from Niger will act as the referee assessor, and Mayowa Akingbemisilu will take on the role of broadcast venue manager.

The Super Eagles are set to face the Mediterranean Knights of Libya at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo on Friday, with the match kicking off at 5 pm.

Recovers large consignments of illicit drugs in Ikorodu warehouse, commercial bus in Taraba

A 41-year-old Canadian lady Adrienne Munju has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja Lagos for importing large consignment of ‘Canadian Loud’, a strong strain of synthetic cannabis.The suspect was arrested during the inward clearance of passengers on KLM airline flight from Canada at the terminal 1 of the Lagos airport on Thursday 3rd October 2024. During a joint examination of her three bags, Adrienne who was coming to Nigeria for the first time was found with 74 parcels of the illicit substance weighing 35.20 kilograms stuffed in two of her three bags.

In her statement, she claimed she was recruited to traffic the consignment through an online platform for 10,000 Canadian dollars upon successful delivery in Lagos.

She said she took the offer because she needed the money to pay for her ongoing master’s degree programme in Canada.

In the same vein, NDLEA operatives at the Port Harcourt Ports, Onne, Rivers state have intercepted Thirteen Million Two Hundred and Ninety Eight Thousand (13,298,000) pills of opioids including Tramadol, Tramaking Quick Action Tramadol, Tamol-X, Royal Tapentadol and Carisoprodol as well as Three Hundred and Thirty Eight Thousand Two Hundred and Fifty Three (338, 253) bottles of codeine based cough syrup, all worth over Nine Billion Seventeen Million Seven Hundred and Seventy One Thousand Naira (N9,017, 771,000) in street value.

The opioids were recovered in three containers coming from India, targeted by the NDLEA during a 100% joint examination of the cargoes with men of the Nigerian Customs and other port stakeholders on Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd October 2024. Similarly, NDLEA operatives at the Tincan seaport in Lagos on Thursday 3rd October intercepted 100 parcels of Canadian Loud weighing 50kg.

The consignment was packed in 20 parcels each in five jumbo bags concealed in a container with four units of imported vehicles that came from Canada.

Though the container had earlier been cleared out of the ESS Libra Bonded Terminal in Ikorodu but based on credible intelligence, NDLEA operatives were able to trace it to a warehouse in Ikorodu where the illicit consignments were discovered in one of the imported vehicles, a Toyota Sienna bus.

A suspect, Abubakar Shuaibu Ibrahim has already been taken into custody in connection with the seizure.

In Taraba, NDLEA officers on Thursday 3rd October intercepted a commercial bus marked JAL 198 YQ coming from Onitsha, Anambra state to Jalingo. Large quantities of opioids: tramadol, rohypnol and codeine-based syrup concealed in body compartments of the vehicle were recovered when it was searched, while two suspects: Pako Thomas and Emmanuel Anyigor were arrested. Another suspect, Chibuzor Okafor was arrested at Wukari on Wednesday 2nd October with 80 blocks of cannabis weighing 38kg hidden in bags of garri.

In Lagos, a suspect Bolanle Ajenifuja was on Friday 4th October arrested at Afo – Media area of Ojo where 700 litres of skuchies, a mixture of local chapman and cocktail of illicit drugs were recovered from her, while three suspects: Ezekiel Akpele; Elijah Michael; and Goddard John, were nabbed same day when NDLEA operatives raided two cannabis farms located at bridge camp, a boundary community between Edo and Ondo states.

Not less than 9,966.332kg of the substance was destroyed on over three hectares of farmland with 48kg of the already processed psychoactive substance recovered.

With the same vigour, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, sensitization activities to schools, worship centres, work places and communities among others in the past week.

These include: WADA enlightenment lecture to students and staff of Government Science Secondary School, Musawa, Katsina; students and teachers of Akanu Ibiam Memorial Seminary School, Abakaliki, Ebonyi; students and staff of Community High School, Ile Ogbo, Osun, and students of Dominion Secondary School, Okon, Akwa Ibom state, among others.

While commending the officers and men of MMIA, Tincan, PHPC, Lagos, Edo, and Taraba Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) stated that their operational successes and those of their compatriots across the country especially their balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts are well apprec

On Sunday, Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State presided over the inauguration ceremony for the newly elected chairpersons of the 23 local government councils in the state.

The event was attended by Senator Bala Mohammed, the Governor of Bauchi State and Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Governors’ Forum.

The local government elections in Rivers State were conducted on Saturday across all council areas. According to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), the Action Peoples Party (APP) secured victories in 22 out of the 23 local governments.

RSIEC’s Chief Election Officer, Justice Adolphus Enebeli, made this known during the announcement of the results in Port Harcourt, the state’s capital.

However, the announcement of results for Etche Local Government Area was initially delayed due to ongoing collation.

Enebeli assured that the results for Etche LGA and the 319 councillorship positions would be announced once collation was completed. RSIEC later declared Uzordinma Nwafor of the Action Alliance (AA) as the winner of the Etche Local Government Area election.

The cost of a kilogramme of beef may soon hit N10, 000 as against between N3, 000 and N5, 000 sold few months back, if urgent support is not given to pastoral farmers.

What this means is that like other agro commodities, beef may soon go beyond the reach of common Nigerians due to the current economic crisis affecting the country.
 
The Director, Animal Husbandry Services, Federal Ministry of Livestock Development, Mrs Winnie Lai Solarin, who raised the alarm at a media engagement in Abuja, said high cost of feed and water, coupled with the spate of insecurity may be responsible for the rising cost of cow meat in the country.
 
In the last few months, Nigerians have continued to raised concern over the rising cost of meat among other proteins, as the cost of a kilogramme of beef has jumped to between N6,000 and N7,000 from as against between N3,000 and N3,500 sold months back. 

She said: “The livestock sector has been neglected, what we need in this sector is feed and water, as well as market regulations for our products, a lot of this things has not been in place. 80 per cent of the meat on our table is from the pastoralists and if the pastoralists are embattled you don’t expect things to go well.

“Before, they were getting grass and feed very cheap, but today they have to buy. It is the restructuring that is causing this, they need to buy feeds and they are unable to get cheap feeds. If you have high cost of feed, you will have high cost of product, just like what we have in the poultry sector.

“High cost of maize and soya is driving the cost of poultry products, the chicken we use to have is not that cheap anymore the same thing for livestock.”
The Director further regretted that Nigerians did not allow the Ruga initiative to see the light of the day, saying the initiative was aimed at scaling up investment in the livestock sector just like it’s being done with the crop production.

“Unfortunately Nigerian misinterpreted it, thinking the government wanted to grab land for the fulani tribe.” Lai Solarin further pointed out that insecurity has also made many farmers unable to go to farms as most of the livestock farmers are being driven out of the country due to insecurity.

She said the incessant farmers/herders conflict has also being a bane of the livestock sector that is worth over N33tr. While bemoaning the lackadaisical attitude of state governments to the sector, the Director pointed out that the Federal Government has done a lot in livestock development, and it is expected that the states do the same, “unfortunately most of them provide little or no budget for the sector.

“Most of these projects are in the states, Federal Government does not have lands, but states are doing little to maintain those grazing reserves and make sure they don’t dilapidate. We call on the state governments to invest more in the livestock sector.”

The Director General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier General Yushau Ahmed, says the recent increase in corps members’ allowance has not been implemented due to funds.

The Wawe had reported how the Federal Government approved the increment of corps members’ monthly allowance from N33,000 to N77,000, effective from July 2024.

The increment, according to a statement by the NYSC on its official Facebook page, was contained in a letter from the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, dated September 25, 2024 and signed by the Chairman, Mr. Ekpo Nta.

But despite the official announcement, the increment did not reflect on corps members’ September monthly allowance as they received N33,000 instead of the approved N77,000.

But speaking to the BBC Hausa service, the NYSC DG explained that although there was approval for the increment, government was yet to release funds to the scheme for the implementation of the new allowance.

He said, “Not only the corps members, even our staff members’ salary has been increased about four to five months ago, but it has not been implemented yet. But we are hopeful that the new pay will be implemented soon, but the funds have not been released to us yet.

“The information we have did not specify when the new allowance will be paid, but we were assured that their monthly allowance has been increased from 29th July 2024.”

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the nationalisation of cartoon content in Nigeria.

According to a statement issued by the National Orientation Agency (NOA) on Sunday morning, the FEC decided on the nationalisation of cartoon content in Nigeria with the aim of achieving 70% in the next three years.

“The decision which comes as part of the effort to promote local heroes, culture and communities seeks to end the progressive enculturation of young people with foreign values within our homes,” the NOA said in a post on its official X account.

The NOA which made the proposal to the FEC said it had noted that children within the first 16 years through these cartoons are exposed to foreign culture and values to the detriment of Nigerian values and culture.

Following the approval, the NOA said it has been mandated to promote the use of local character and storyline in animation videos.

This will involve creating, promoting and distributing animated cartoons and digital game-based content in captivating visuals and relatable storytelling that capture the National Values Charter (NVC), history and civic education.

“These contents would reflect our language, cultural values, traditions and identity,” the agency explained.

“This initiative aims to provide children with entertaining, educational and culturally relevant content that fosters attitudinal and behavioural change and serves as a platform for promoting national identity through value reorientation.

“This will also open a new industry within the creative and entertainment sector, creating jobs, competencies and prosperity.”