Nigeria lost‎ 306 person to tanker related accidents in 2016 – Dogara

No fewer than 306 people lost their lives to accidents, involving petrol tanker/trailers in 2016, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara, has said.
“This is in addition to 750 other incidents, which left victims with various degrees of injuries”, he added, while explaining that this necessitated the urgent intervention by the House of Representatives to ensure that such incidents were reduced to the barest minimum.

Dogara, while declaring a public hearing on the need for government to address the menace of accidents involving fuel tankers, organised by the Adhoc Committee to address the Menace of Accidents Involving Fuel Tankers at the National Assembly, expressed concern that despite legislation and concerted efforts by stakeholders, a good number of deaths recorded on our roads.
He stated, “Reports from the FRSC indicate that between January to December 2016, petrol tanker/trailers were involved in at least 338 cases of road traffic crashes, consisting of 306 death and 750 others with various degrees of injuries.
“The tasks before the ad-hoc Committee is to find out the causes of the accidents involving fuel tankers and other articulated vehicles. Whether they are as a result of the design of our roads, the vehicle, human errors, recklessness or mental state of the drivers and to liaise with relevant stakeholders to fashion out ways of reducing, in the short-run and ultimately eliminating these destructive accidents which are claiming unquantifiable number of lives and property across the country.”
The Speaker expressed optimism that the enforcement of speed limit, which the parliament approved last year, will reduce the number of accidents and make Nigerian roads safer.

“On its part, the House had last year, approved the installation of speed limiting devices on commercial and fleet vehicles and is passionately waiting for the takeoff and the anticipated reduction in the number of carnages on our highways.
“Road safety is a dynamic field and the National Assembly is poised to providing the institutional framework for safer mobility, roads, vehicles and post-crash care through increased budgetary allocation to the relevant sectors.
“These include those with the mandate for construction and maintenance of roads as well as increased co-operation between government and non-governmental organization for the proper utilization and overall safety of road users.
“I am pleased to state that as a legislature, we have put in place deliberate measures to achieve a vision of becoming one of the 20th safest countries, in terms of road transportation and mobility, by 2020 and meeting the UN decade of Action of reducing road crash record by at least half by 2020”, he stated.

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2019: Stop attacking Obasanjo over presidency – PDP chieftain

A founding member of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra State and a Biafran war veteran, Chief Joe Ifediobi, has hailed former President Olusegun Obasanjo for advising Ndigbo to prepare ahead of the 2019 presidential election.
According to him, Obasanjo meant well for Ndigbo and was in no way ridiculing their sensibility with his statement.

Obasanjo, who recently hosted the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Ogun State chapter, at this Abeokuta Hilltop residence, said he was in support of the return to regional governance, as it will solve the problem of marginalization.
“Irrespective of the thinking of the people ahead of 2019, I personally think that South-East should have a go at the Presidency too,” he was quoted as saying.
Reacting however, Ifediobi, said some Igbo leaders who have been condemning Obasanjo for his comment were only unfair to their region.
Ifediobi recalled that it was Obasanjo when he became the president of the country in 1999 that recognised Igbos and appointed them in enviable positions since after the civil war when Ndigbo was relegated to the background through the appointment of Dr. Ngozi Okonji-Iweala as the Finance minister.

According to him, “What I expected from leaders of Ndigbo is to go back and have serious thought about the disposition of Obasanjo and begins to strategize to make it a reality than to be firing him from left and right. Obasanjo is the friend of Ndigbo but some people don’t know it, he was the first leader after the civil war to appoint Ndigbo in enviable positions and awarded major road contracts in the southeast.‎”
“Ndigbo should know that it is time for them to correct the mistakes of the past by coming together to thinker on how to be the president of the country in 2019.
“Obasanjo based his call for Igbo presidency on the conflicts, agitations and marginalization of Ndigbo in the past which he said will balance the equation if Igbo man becomes the next president. So, we should work towards achieving that, than to be attacking Obasanjo”, Ifediobi added.

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It’s time for Wenger to leave Arsenal – Gallas

Former Arsenal captain, William Gallas, has said the time could be right for Arsene Wenger to step down as manager of the club.
Wenger’s current deal runs out at the end of this season and there has been speculation that he could leave after 21 years in charge.

“Maybe it is time to change something at the end of the season,” Gallas told talkSPORT.
“We can’t forget what he did for the club. He did a very, very good job so sometimes you can’t sack the manager like this. You have to respect the manager.
“That is why I said at the end of the season maybe the board has to speak with Arsene and try to find a solution.”
Gallas also stated that Wenger is being criticized a lot, because of the lack of trophies in recent seasons.

“You get criticism when you don’t win trophies, when you don’t win games, and that is maybe the difference between Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger,” he continued.
“Mourinho wants to win every game and at the end of the season sometimes he has success but, for Arsene, Arsenal didn’t win from 2004 so everybody starts to criticise him because football has changed.
“Football is about victory, about trophies. Players want to lift trophies. If you don’t lift a trophy in your career, you will feel disappointed at the end of your career.
“I don’t know what Arsenal are going to do but they have to win trophies again.”

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Boko Haram paid me N200 to bomb Borno State – Teenager

An 18-year-old Boko Haram suicide bomber, Amina, who was intercepted by operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps on Tuesday in Maiduguri, Borno State said she was given N200 for the mission.
Amina said she was abducted two years ago by the sect members in Madagali, Adamawa State and taken to Sambisa forest.

She said: “They gave us N200 each, which they said we should use to buy food for ourselves.
“It took us three days to come to Maiduguri on a motorcycle.
“We were directed by the sect members to detonate our explosives any where we saw any form of gathering.
“They said if we press the button, the bomb would explode and we will automatically go to heaven.

“I was scared, so, I told them that I could not detonate any explosive.
“So, they said if Zainab detonated her own, it would serve the purpose.
“On our way to Maiduguri, we encountered the military and they were shooting.
“I was very scared and the people that brought us ran away.

“I am from Imam Shekau’s faction of Boko Haram, even though I have never seen Shekau.But I hear about him in Gobarawa.”
Amina said that her father, mother and younger brother, Umar, were all killed when they tried to escape from the Boko Haram enclave where they were held hostage.
She said: “We came from Gobarawa along Damboa, Madagali and Algarno axis, in a community where a lot of us were held hostage and married off by the sect members.
“I also am married to a Boko Haram Commander known as ‘Amir’.”
The NSCDC Commandant in Borno State, Abdullahi Ibrahim, said the command had handed over the suspect to the Garrison Commander, 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, Maiduguri “for proper investigation”.
The Theater Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Maiduguri, Major General Lucky Irabor, confirmed that the suspect was in the custody of the Army and that she would undergo investigation.
Irabor said: “We are going to profile her as she would give us the lead to get to other insurgents.”
Operatives of the NSCDC had earlier intercepted two female suicide bombers who tried to ram into motorists at the NNPC Mega Station along Damboa Road, Maiduguri.
Ibrahim told the News Agency of Nigeria that the incident occurred at about 6.45am.
He said: “Our personnel at the NNPC station intercepted two female suicide bombers who were targeting motorists on the long queue at the NNPC mega petrol station at about 6.45am.
“One of the bombers got scared and threw away her bomb and was instantly arrested, while the other one began to run after people with her explosive, but luckily, she was shot on the leg by our personnel after he chased her to a safe place.”

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