News Headlines for the 5th of April 2021.

NDLEA arrests trafficker with N564m heroin at Abuja airport

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has intercepted a suspected drug trafficker, Goodluck Igbineweka Odeh, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, with two kilograms of heroin.
The substance, according to the agency, has a street value of N564m and was concealed in the lining of the false bottom of the suspect’s suitcase.
A statement by the Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, said the 40-year-old suspect from the Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of Edo State, was arrested at the departure lounge of the airport during an outward clearance of Ethiopian Airline’s aircraft 911 from Abuja to Italy through Addis Ababa.
Babafemi said, “Under interrogation, Odeh claimed that he did not know how the drug found its way into the bag as he bought the suitcase from a second-hand materials open market in Lagos not knowing that it contained the drug. When further asked of the market’s address, he added, “I don’t know the address.”

Odeh said he was accompanied to the market where he bought the suitcase by a man he claimed he first met the day he arrived Lagos from Benin, adding that he came into Abuja from Lagos for onward trip to Italy.
The Commander, Abuja Airport Command, NDLEA, Kabir Tsakuwa, said charges had already been filed against the suspect, while further investigation would continue to explore other leads on the case.
The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), commended the commander, officers and men of the Abuja airport for their vigilance.

The Senate has commenced a probe into an alleged spending of N258m by the Financial Reporting Council on Nigeria as personnel cost in its 2017 budget without the approval of the National Assembly.
The Senate Public Accounts Committee based its decision to probe the FRC on a query from the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation as contained in the 2015 to 2018 AuGF report currently being scrutinized by both chambers of the federal legislature.
However, the Executive Secretary of FRC, Daniel Asapokhai, said the extra money spent was to augment the agency’s personnel cost for the fiscal year.
The chairman of the senate committee, Senator Mathew Urhoghide, nevertheless, asked the executive secretary of FRC to present the approval for N258m extra-budgetary expenditure by the National Assembly.
The executive secretary promised to send the document backing the expenditure to committee secretariat.
Urhoghide lamented the rampant cases of extra budgetary spending by federal agencies and vowed that his committee would ensure that the practice was checked.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has assured the people of Egedege in Ebonyi State of justice over the recent herdsmen’s attacks during his visit to their community on Sunday.

He said that government would seek justice on behalf of those who are dead, not just because they are victims but because they are human beings and they deserve justice.
Osinbajo, in assuring the elders and people of the communities on government’s plans to ensure that the dastard acts do not repeat itself, said it was very important to beef up security in the state, especially the affected communities.
The Vice President said he was already in talks with the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Army in the state about ensuring that more security was provided

He also charged the people of the local communities to be ready to support the security operative with information on the activities of suspected people around them.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has expressed concern over the “unwholesome activities of fraudulent operators of cybercafes, tutorial centres” and other entities.
It said some of them had been arrested in Kwara and had been handed over to security agencies, adding that such centres had formed the habit of deceiving helpless candidates through using its logo and name to defraud and extort them.
A statement released on Sunday by the spokesperson for JAMB, Dr Fabian Benjamin, said its Registrar/Chief Executive, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, expressed these views in Ilorin, Kwara State on Friday, while handing over some operators of cybercafés, tutorial centres and others to security agents.
According to him, JAMB and the security agencies will be combing the streets across the country to ensure that the untoward activities of fraudulent elements are curtailed.

Since inception of the Contributory Pension Scheme, the Pension Fund Administrators and life underwriters providing group life cover have paid N205.12bn death benefits to 62,596 deceased workers’ relatives.
Statistics obtained from the National Pension Commission on approval of death benefits for the fourth quarter confirmed this.
The CPS which was introduced by the Pension Reform Act in 2014 mandates the employers in public and private sectors to ensure their workers open Retirement Savings Accounts with PFAs.
It also mandates the employers to remit a total of 18 per cent of the monthly emoluments of the employees, comprising 10 per cent employer and eight per cent employee contributions into the respective RSAs.
According to recent reports, Only relatives of deceased workers in the public and private sectors whose monthly pensions were remitted regularly by their employers were paid death claims under the Contributory Pension Scheme.