Maiduguri—Following recent attacks by remnants of the Boko Haram insurgents in parts of Borno State, Governor Kashim Shettima, weekend, held an emergency security meeting with heads of the Nigerian Army, Air Force, Police and the Department of State Services, DSS, aimed at stepping up measures on increased surveillance to forestall further security breach.

Before the meeting with security chiefs, Governor Shettima had earlier held a three three-hour closed-door meeting with the Theater Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Major General Leo Irabor at the Governor’s Office, Maiduguri.

During the meeting, the governor was briefed over recent attacks and ongoing military operations while discussions were held with assurances that the remnants of the insurgents were on suicidal mission given their displacement from their former Sambisa forest headquarters.

Special Adviser on Communications and Strategy to Governor Shettima, Malam Isa Gusau, said in a statement yesterday, that after meeting with the Theater Commander, who is not a member of the State Security Council, Shettima presided over an emergency meeting of the state Security Council that involved core armed forces.

Held at the council chambers of the Government House, the meeting had in attendance the General Officer Commanding, 7 Division of the Army, Brigadier General Victor Ezugwu; the Commander, 79 Composite group of the Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore Charles Oho; the Borno State Commissioner of Police, Damian Chukwu; the Garrison Commander, 7 Division of the Army, Brigadier General Jibrin Mohammed; the State Director of the DSS, Suleiman Kankia; Commandant of the Nigerian Civil Defense Corps, Ibrahim Abdullahi; the Secretary to the State Government, Usman Jidda Shuwa, the Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Kaka Shehu Lawan and the Permanent Secretary in charge of security.

At the end of meeting, new guard locations were established in some routes across the state to curtail the movement of remnants of Boko Haram fighters; deployment of security personnel to various locations were increased with more members of Civilian JTF (youth volunteers involved) while the Governor gave approval for release of additional patrol vehicles to security agencies for increased surveillance.

The governor also approved logistics to compliment efforts of the Federal Government in strengthening armed forces while measures were adopted to strengthen the Civilian JTF and hunters.

The meeting also reviewed synergy between armed forces and volunteers with steps adopted to increase collaboration and clamp down on cattle rustling used by insurgents to raise funds. The council deliberated on recent false information spread by mischief makers to cause disaffection between armed forces and volunteers particularly the Civilian JTF with the council warning mischief makers against destabilizing the emerging peace across the State.

As the economic crisis continued to weigh on businesses, telecommunication firms are planning to adopt drastic measures to boost revenue.

Telecoms companies in the country are planning to curb losses from international calls and meet a revenue target of N20 trillion by blocking subscribers from using Skype and other internet call services, called Over-the-Top, the Punch reported on Sunday.

According to the report, subscribers might also be prevented from voice and video calls on Facebook and Whatsapp, among other OTT services.

A manager at one of the major telecommunication companies in the country, who preferred not to be named said, “It is an aggressive approach to stop further revenue loss to OTT players on international calls, having already lost about N100tn between 2012 and 2017.”

The manager added that “If we fail to be pro-active by taking cogent steps now, then there are indications that we may lose between N20tn and N30tn, or so, by the end of 2018.”

This further support Ovum report, a United Kingdom-based research and analytics company that about $386 billion would be lost over a period of six years, between 2012 and 2018, from Nigerian customers using the OTT voice applications.

“Generally, the main fear of the telecoms operators here will be that customers will increasingly use Skype as a substitute for conventional international calls,” said Mattew Reed, the Principal Analyst at Informa Telecoms and Media.

Whereas telecoms operators in the country have said international calls made up the bulk of their revenue due to Nigeria’s large diaspora population, but that the Nigerian Communications Commission is not doing enough to regulate the sector and keep them in business.

However, the Director, Public Affairs, NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo, said, “We don’t have any evidence that we do not regulate the Internet.”

THE Presidency has promised to get President Muhammadu Buhari, who is on indefinite vacation in London, to speak to Nigerians to douse welling controversies and disquiet in the country over his health status and well-being.

Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, who disclosed this in Abuja on the sidelines of an interactive session with Nigerian youths organized by the Citizens Support for Good Governance in Nigeria , yesterday, also dismissed fears of a division in the nation’s seat of power regarding the performance of Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, who has held sway since President Buhari went on medical vacation last January.

President Buhari He also said it was not true that some close appointees of President Buhari had constituted themselves into a cabal with the aim of whittling down the influence of Acting President Osinbajo. Asked why the President’s handlers have not deemed it fit to get him to talk directly to Nigerians through Nigeria’s media, Shehu said the suggestion would be forwarded to the president to see if he would agree. ‘’Okay, if you are making a suggestion, we will put it to him, in case he would agree.

We will put it to him, ‘’he said. On the issue of a cabal in Presidency, Garba said: ‘’This country has one government. When Nigerians voted, they voted for Buhari/Osinbajo on one ticket. Nobody can divide that ticket, so if Prof. Osinbajo achieves a milestone, it is a milestone by the Buhari administration. It is one government, no division in this government.’’ He also added that Nigerians have to be grateful to the President, whose emergence, he said, halted the menacing advance of the Boko Haram terrorists, who by now, according to him, might have overran the Presidential Villa in Aso Rock. ‘’He (Buhari) wants a future that is secure and stable for young generations that are coming, that is yourselves. This is why in his messages, he has stayed on three key issues; he has repeated this over and over again.

‘’He says this country cannot make any progress without security. And look at all the efforts that has been put in rolling back Boko Haram. There are many people who believe that if not for President Buhari, if the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had continued in this country in 2015, Boko Haram would have taken over Aso Rock by now,’’ he said. Hold Buhari responsible for APC campaign promises Also speaking, a member of the Board of Trustees, BoT, of ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, Barr. Ismaila Ahmed, urged the party to be open to criticisms and asked Nigerians to hold the President and other leaders of the party accountable for their campaign promises.

Ahmed said while the APC had tried in delivering on some of its mandate, there was no disputing the fact that some Nigerians were not satisfied with the status quo, and advised the party not to shut out critics. He said: ‘’As a government, we have to be open to criticisms. Some people are not happy, people have to express their frustration, people have to express their anger, we cannot and we should not have a problem with that. ‘’We campaigned all through because I headed the youth wing during the campaigns; I knew from day one that it was not going to be an easy task, even the President knew it won’t be an easy task. ‘’So the responsibility is not for us to start promising anymore because we are two years into the administration. ‘’This administration has to be convinced by its own performances and not its own promises anymore.

We have made promises during the campaigns, now we have to act on those promises and that is what the President will continue to do and our responsibility, as members of this party is to tell Mr President you can choose who you can work with, but we will make sure that we can hold you and those you appoint to account. ‘’We have so many things we have done right and we also have so many things we have done wrong, there is no doubt about that.

A 45-year-old commercial driver, Lawrence Adedapo, was yesterday sentenced to seven years imprisonment by an Ado-Ekiti high court for raping an 80-year-old woman, Madam Grace Asaolu.

Justice Dele Omotoso, who hinged his judgment on the evidence before the court, which showed that the driver raped the old woman and was guilty as charged.

The convict sexually assaulted the octogenarian on November 7, 2013 at Oke Erimope Street, Ogbese, Ise-Ekiti, and was subsequently charged to court.

Adedapo, who pleaded not guilty to the charge, described the old woman as his “mother as well as his concubine,” whom he has been dating as far back as his bachelor years and claimed that Mrs. Asaolu framed him up.

He claimed that the old woman had earlier approached him for a sum of money to travel to her village. The driver claimed that the old woman started caressing him, which eventually led to love-making, after which he had given her N1,000.

The prosecution, led by the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Owoseni Ajayi, gave evidence that the convict confessed to have been dating the woman before the incident and that she consen-ted to the sexual intercourse.

Ajayi tendered the blood-stained clothes of the victim, which was recovered from the scene of the incident.

The trial judge resolved all issues for determination against Adedapo and consequently sentenced him to a jail term of seven years for unlawful carnal knowledge of the old woman.

ABOUT six million residents of Rivers State face the risk of developing cancer of the lung and other respiratory problems, following the never-ending raining of cancerous hydrocarbon elements, commonly referred to as black soot on their environment.

Dr. Furo Green, a specialist and consultant surgeon at the Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital, Port Harcourt, who raised the alarm in an interview with NDV, decried the impact of the black soot, saying that six million Rivers people were at the risk of cancer over the hydrocarbon.

Magnitude of hydrocarbon

Similarly, a consultant surgeon and the deputy chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, Special Projects and Linkages University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Dr. Ochele Emmanuel, confirmed that the hydrocarbons were capable of causing cancer. However, the Rivers State Government, according to our findings, had shut down three companies in the state for allegedly operating machines that emit high magnitude of hydrocarbon into the atmosphere.One of the residents, who spoke to our reporter, Mrs. Chika Chibuike, asserted: “I am aware of the black soot, before you wake in the morning, you will see black stains in your room. If you use a white cloth to clean the chairs or the television, it will be as if you cleaned charcoal. The thing is happening every day. When you clean your nose, you will also notice that youR nose is black. I heard that it can cause cancer but God is protecting me and my family. Although I am afraid of that, so I try as much to cover our food and close the windows.”

FG should monitor multinational companies: Dr. Green asserted that currently in the state, many people were at the risk of developing cancer of the lung and other respiratory problems following prolong exposure to the black soot caused by hydrocarbon, urging the federal government to monitor the activities of multinational companies that are into hydrocarbon processing.

Green said: “We all suddenly noticed an increase in discharge of black powdery matter in the environment, which the Ministry of Environment has narrowed to hydrocarbon. The implication of inhaling these hydrocarbon particles is that it can lead to acute inflammation of the airways, which can precipitate to hyper stimulation of the airway and actually precipitate asthmatic attack in individuals, who are predisposed to asthma.

“And over a long period of time it can precipitate chronic obstruction of the airways, which we refer to as chronic bronchitis. So when this condition goes on for a long time, it results to chronic respiratory conditions that can end up as malignancy or even kill the individual. The figure of people affected by this might even be larger than six million because other neighbouring states are also experiencing the soot, and even recently parts of Lagos State have been reported to also experience it.”

Green stated: “Hydrocarbons after prolong exposure can predispose to cancer, especially of the lung, because that is the area where it is settled, but there are other long lasting conditions that may arise from hydrocarbon poison, such as infertility as demonstrated by Prof. Georgewill of the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, where he was able to demonstrate that fertility is significantly affected by hydrocarbon poisoning.

Hydrocarbon poisoning

“But in children, the effect can be unpredictable, a child that is very normal now could actually develop an acute respiratory problem, meaning that a child, who has never had asthma, can actually precipitate to one, and if care is not taken the child could die from asphyxia. So the effects of these particles are more pronounced in children right now, but over a period of time, it will lead to lung condition.”

Dr. Green advised: “Wash your hands as often as possible because even where you wash your hands, you will see that the lather of the soap itself is black. Children should be protected, close your windows, wash your fruits and cover your food to reduce the loads of these hydrocarbons. Also, clean your floor and furniture with moist towels to reduce the accumulation of the soot; and when you are exposed outside, wear a nose-mask or cover your nose with handkerchief to minimize the volume that is inhaled.”

Instant respiratory problem: The other consultant surgeon, Dr. Emmanuel noted that the immediate effect on people is respiratory problem and called on the government to clamp down on some human activities that introduce hydrocarbon into the atmosphere.This case of black soot has been, we know that whatever you burn, turns into hydrocarbon substances. We also know from the medical literature that the hydrocarbon agents have been implicated for causation of cancers for virtually all parts of the body, cancer of the lungs, cancer of the oesophagus, cancer of the stomach, cancer of the pancreas and cancer of the skin.

So the issue of the soot should not confound anybody, cancer may take long to manifest, but are we going to wait till 15 to 20 years when 10 persons out of 100 develop cancer before we confront the problem headlong? We may not have the resource to face such challenges at that time.”

Dr. Emmanuel counseled: “The government should do everything possible to ensure that our society is clean, they can do that by ensuring that illegal refineries, the petroleum industries, where there is gas flaring and where there is release of effluent into the atmosphere is reduced to the minimum even the automobile and artisans, who burn tires often. We know that it will have a cumulative effect one day. Among them for now, people will begin to develop respiratory problem, skin irritation. The government needs to intervene and the citizens should be educated.”

Govt to prosecute offenders

Meanwhile, the Task Force on Black Soot set by the state government to investigate and resolve the environmental challenge, penultimate Saturday, closed down three companies operating in the state, Chinese Government Company, CGC, HSH Engineering Company and AUC Ashphalt Company for allegedly operating machines that emit high magnitude of hydrocarbon into the atmosphere.

Commissioner of Information and Communications, Dr. Austin Tam-George, said the decision to set up the task force was taken at the State Executive Council meeting based on a preliminary report of its ministerial investigation presented to the council by the Commissioner of Environment, Prof. Roseline Konya.

Dr. Tam- George explained that the three companies operating in Aluu community, Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state, were sealed up for aggravated air pollution and breach of environmental laws.

He noted that directors of the affected companies would face prosecution in accordance with the law and warned all individuals and companies that engage in practices that pollute the air and ruin the environment to desist or face the full weight of the law. The commissioner said that while the state remained open for investment, government was committed to the implementation of the United Nations, UN Declarations on the importance of fresh air and creation of sustainable livelihoods in the communities.

Findings by govt: Tam-George asserted: “The asphalt plant was found to be producing thick black smog out of the furnace in the process of burning asphalt, heavily polluting the air. The Asphalt plant was immediately shut down by the task force. All the directors of the company will be prosecuted according to the law. The public is, therefore, advised to cooperate with the task force by providing useful information on black soot.”

Immediate past Commissioner for Health, Dr. Theophilus Odagme, who spoke to NDV two days before Governor Nyesom Wike relieved him of his job, told NDV, that that the contents of the black particle have not been determined, but government had sent samples for test.

A couple going on vacation but his wife was on a business trip so he went to the destination first and his wife would meet him the next day.

When he reached his hotel, he decided to send his wife a quick email.

Unfortunately, when typing her address, he mistyped a letter and his note was directed instead to an elderly preacher’s wife whose husband had passed away only the day before.

When the grieving widow checked her email, she took one look at the monitor, let out a piercing scream, and fell to the floor in a dead faint.

At the sound, her family rushed into the room and saw this note on the screen:

Dearest Wife,
Just got checked in. Everything prepared for your arrival tomorrow.

P.S. Sure is hot down here.