The University of Benin is set to re-open on Aug. 11 after a period of closure occasioned by students’ protests and agitations.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the institution’s Senate had, on July 4, announced the closure of the school, following protests by students over weeks of power outages on the campus.

According to a circular released by the university’s Registrar, Ademola Bobola, students are expected to return to their halls of residence on Sunday, while lectures resume on Monday.

The registrar said during the closure, the university management addressed the issues that led to the shutting down of the institution, including electricity and water supply as well as renovation of halls of residence.

“The decision to reopen the university was made by the Senate at its meetings held on July 23 and 24, 2024, in tandem with the position of the Governing Council, critical stakeholders, and after a review of the current atmosphere in the country.

“As part of the conditions for resumption, each returning student is required to swear an affidavit of undertaking to be of good conduct while in the university.

“The affidavit must contain cardinal points, as captured in the document attached to the circular.

“Students are expected to upload the sworn affidavit on their Kofa page of the university and submit the hard copy to their departmental course adviser within two weeks of resumption,” he said.

Bobola stated that failure to comply with the directive might result in the withholding of results of defaulting students.

He assured students that necessary actions had been taken to address the issues that led to the closure, expressing the confidence that normal academic activities would resume without any hitch.

The registrar advised students to take note of the resumption date and comply with the conditions for resumption to avoid any consequences.

The Department of State Services (DSS) has denied invading the office of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Abuja.

The NLC had raised the alarm over the invasion of its national secretariat by a combination of security operatives on Wednesday night.

The spokesman of the NLC, Benson Upah, in a statement at midnight, alleged that the security operatives comprised officers from the Nigeria Police Force and the DSS.

Reacting on Thursday, the sokesman of the DSS, Dr. Peter Afunanya, said that their operatives did not carry out such operations at the NLC headquarters.

“Please, kindly note that the Service (DSS) did not carry out any operation at the NLC office in Abuja,” Afunanya said in a post on X.

The NLC in a statement signed by Upah following the incident directed its staff to stay away from the office

Upah said others were on outright mufti as they all swooped on the 10th floor of the NLC headquarters and arrested the security man on duty.

He stated that the security man was commandeered to the second floor and was asked to produce the keys to the offices.

“To this end, the NLC has directed all its staff to stay away from the Labour House for now until “we are certain that there are no incriminating materials or harmful substances dropped in our offices by the invading operatives,” Upah said. To allay our fears, we demand an international inquiry into this very traumatic invasion.

“We demand that all the books and materials carted away by the invading security operatives be returned unfailingly to where they were taken from before the end of work on Thursday, August 8, 2024.”

A man in Indonesia killed his neighbour for persistently asking why he wasn’t married, police said.

Parlindungan Siregar, 45, attacked Asgim Irianto, 60, a retired civil servant, with a piece of wood around 8 pm on 29 July, the Straits Times reported. The incident took place in Tapanuli Selatan in northern Sumatra.

Assistant police commissioner Maria Marpaung said on 31 July that Mr Irianto ran out after Siregar attacked him but fell down after he was hit on the head. Siregar continued hitting him until their neighbours intervened.

They took Mr Irianto to a local community health centre but he died on the way.

Siregar was arrested shortly after and admitted to plotting his neighbour’s murder, Ms Marpaung said. She added: “He was determined to beat Mr Asgim to death because of the frequent taunts about his single status.”

Police said the neighbours didn’t share a particularly cordial relationship. They would argue over their chickens going into each other’s coops.

Last month, a man in Indonesia allegedly stabbed his friend to death after they got into an argument over which came first, the chicken or the egg.

The suspect, identified only as DR, stabbed Kadir Markus from Muna Regency in South East Sulawesi province at least 15 times after they got into a heated argument over the riddle on 24 July.

A wooden cargo boat, identified as ‘Godbless Dickson’, laden with cargo and over 64 passengers and crew exploded, and burst into flames leaving 20 dead in Bayelsa waterways.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt on Thursday that the tragic incident occurred on Wednesday along the Ezetu 1 community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area (LGA) of Bayelsa.

ASP Musa Mohammed, the Police Spokesman in Bayelsa told NAN correspondent on telephone that 20 people have been so far confirmed dead, while rescue efforts by the Marine Police unit were still ongoing.

The ill-fated cargo boat laden with farm produce from the rural settlement was en route to Swali market in Yenagoa.

Mr Ogoniba Ipigansi, Chairman of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, Bayelsa Chapter, also confirmed the incident in a telephone interview with a NAN Correspondent on Thursday.

He said that a rescue team of the union, consisting of two-speed boats, had been dispatched to the scene to assist the passengers on board.

He said that the exact number of casualties was yet to be ascertained, as the rescue was still underway and several people on board yet to be accounted for.

A speedboat operator, Mr Augustine Amayoro, who participated in rescue efforts, said he rescued 10 persons from the scene, leaving other passengers stranded in the nearby fishing camp.

NAN gathered that the wooden cargo boats were exempted from the state government’s ban on night navigation on waterways.

Due to the slow pace of navigation, the cargo boats set sail a day ahead of the targeted weekly market days of Thursdays when farm produce flood the Swali waterside in Yenagoa.

Meanwhile, Chief Target Segibo, Chairman of Southern Ijaw LGA, who bemoaned the loss of 20 persons in the incident, described the disaster as regrettable.

He called for concerted efforts by stakeholders to strengthen safety regulations in the marine transport sector. 

The Lagos State Government has demolished an illegal shrine constructed close to a main road at Moshalasi Bus Stop, Ile Epo in Iyana Ipaja.

A 2.58-minute video of the demolition was shared by the State Commissioner of Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab on Wednesday.

Wahab explained that the shrine was removed by the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps after repeated stop-work notices were ignored and personnel from the Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency were physically assaulted.

He warned that the state government would no longer tolerate any form of environmental nuisance in state parks and gardens.

Wahab noted that anyone found guilty would be prosecuted.

The commissioner’s statement read in part: “After several stop-work notices served and physical assault on the personnel of the Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency, the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps earlier today removed the Shrine constructed close to a main road at Moshalasi Bus Stop, Ile Epo in Iyana Ipaja.

“The Lagos State government is again warning everyone to desist from constituting any form of environmental nuisance on the State parks and gardens as this will be met with prosecution.”

The Nigerian Army high command has broken its silence over the killing of a protester by a soldier in Zaria, Kaduna State.

Spokesman of the army, Major General Onyema Nwachukwu, noted that hoodlums had brazenly attacked soldiers enforcing State government imposed curfew with weapons.

Nwachukwu said, “On August 6, 2024, troops of the Nigerian Army received a distress call that some hoodlums gathered in Samaru in large numbers, burning tyres on the road and pelting stones at security personnel. The troops immediately mobilised and arrived at the scene to disperse the mob and enforce the curfew imposed by the State Government.

“On arrival at the scene, the hoodlums brazenly attempted attacking the troops prompting a soldier to fire a warning shot to scare the hoodlums away, which unfortunately led to the death of a 16-year-old boy Ismail Mohammed. The soldier involved has since been arrested and undergoing interrogation at the time of filing this report.

“Saddened by the unfortunate incident, the Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Taoreed Abiodun Lagbaja has sent a high-powered delegation led by the General Officer Commanding 1 Division Maj Gen Lander Saraso to visit and condole with the family of the deceased.

“The deceased was buried according to Islamic rites with senior military officers of the Nigerian Army in attendance.”