Category: Daily Trust

The immediate past FCT Chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, Tpl. Lami A. Ayuba, made several attempts beginning from April 26, 2024 to get approval for a courtesy visit to the FCT Minister, but was not granted. On February 3, 2025, when all attempts failed, she submitted a formal letter to the FCT Minister, detailing the dire consequences of conversions and redesign of green areas to mixed use/ estate/ residential and commercial uses.

Accordingly, she stressed that, most places designed as green areas may have certain physical, natural or man-made encumbrances that determine their designation to be reserved as green areas. These include serving as district storm drainage waterways. Any permanent development will block the storm ways and cause flooding with time. Some serve as paths for underground sewer lines. Any heavy construction over, will damage them underneath.

Some serve as paths for national grid power lines. Development cannot take place under power lines, due to the hazards and risks associated with them. Some of these areas have heavy rocks outcrops that are part of larger underground basement complex. Construction work on them can cause pseudo earth tremor around the area and expose other residents to the risks of building collapse. This was exactly what is already experienced in the Mpape area as we have previously discussed.

Other economic consequences of these conversions would be the refusal to grant building plan approvals as a result of the violations of development control standard and regulations. Certainly, the allottees are liable to losing the allocations in the event of change or reversal of government policies, and will be a colossal waste to the investors, who spent billions in the inappropriate land purchase. She ended the submission with the request for the reversal of these conversions in order to protect the environment, protect investors and assure the integrity of land tenure and administration in the FCT.

As previously discussed, the three principles of ‘environmental conservation’, ‘city beautiful’ and ‘functional city’ were adequately factored in the formulation of the Abuja Master Plan, in order to ensure the production of a new city much better by far than Lagos. What it means is that the violations of the plan would take us back to where we earlier belonged or even worst. This exactly is what we must avoid.

It was due to the significance of the landscaping components in city management and functionality that informed the master planners to devote 33 per cent of the total land budget of Abuja City for greening. Unfortunately, the wanton greed for land acquisition for material benefit overshadowed the minds of the people in authority to convert most of these provisions for other uses. The results are the dire consequences of the environmental challenges being unfolded, and could dramatically deteriorate if not addressed.

The repercussion of the violations can only emerge when the developments were effected. Already, even before the advanced implementation of the violated areas, the floods have started, in less than two years. Guzafe and Asokoro are neighbouring districts and are the epicenter of the latest waves of land use violations perpetrated by the current FCT Administration. They never experienced any floods similar to the one during the last heavy downpour about two weeks ago. The truth is more and more should be expected as the developments continue, if the violations are not reviewed.

It could be recalled that Trademore Estate along the Airport Road is notoriously known for constant floods recurrence with devastating consequences every year. If not addressed, the backlash of land use violations at Asokoro and Guzafe has the tendency of rendering the Trademore situation a child play.

Recounting the experience, areas along the airport road, running along Lokogoma District and Galadimawa, to areas constituting the Trademore estate and the other surrounding developments were bunch of violations of land uses with impunity. Due to the surrounding higher grounds, runoff as a result of torrential rainfall increase in speed and volume as it races along the smaller streams with humongous expansion in no time, with high speed to the lower grounds. Loss of lives and property are constant recurrence every raining season.

The natural ground has its in-built capacity for the absorption of the rain water through infiltration. This capacity is lost due to surface pavements, hence the astronomical increase in the surface runoffs. The natural solution is, no developments at all in areas constituting natural runways for precipitation. Hence the designations of such areas for green developments only. The wisdom was for the plants to aid absorption thereby minimising runoffs. And, in the absence of human residences no life is threatened in case of any emergency.

It is instructive to note that in almost all the areas where lives and property were lost as a result of floods, development were made in violations of the rules and regulations. In some instances some of the culprits with so-called high profile, would have the temerity to take legal actions against the Authority, to prevent enforcements. According to Gilbert White, ‘Floods are acts of God, but flood losses are largely acts of man.’

An unidentified elderly woman was found dead by the river close to Agaie Water Board, the headquarters of Agaie LGA of Niger State.

Residents, including the staff of the social welfare department of Agaie LGA, said the lifeless body was discovered on Tuesday morning, but no one could identify the deceased.

One of the residents, Bala Umaru, said the remains were buried according to Islamic rites on Wednesday by the Agaie LGA Welfare department after efforts to identify her family proved unsuccessful.

A notorious kidnapper identified as Maidawa and several of his foot soldiers have reportedly been eliminated in an encounter with joint security forces around Isanlu-Isin in Kwara State.

This is just as Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq on Thursday visited Oke Ode and other communities hit by recent attacks to commiserate with victims.

Quoting security sources, the government said the engagement occurred on September 30 when troops pressed forward with intensified operations aimed at flushing out armed gangs terrorising rural communities.

According to a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Rafiu Ajakaye, ‘Intercepts by the state security service revealed that Maidawa’s death was broken to other gang members by another wanted kidnapper, Baccujo, in a monitored conversation along Igboro-Idofin road, with his associates based as far away as Marabar Maigora in Sabuwa Local Government Area of Katsina State’.

He said the coordinated operation, part of a broader push across Ekiti, Ifelodun, Isin, Edu, and Patigi local government areas, followed renewed calls from the state government for urgent interventions to stem repeated abductions and killings.

‘Security forces, working with local vigilante groups and forest guards, have since stepped up raids on hideouts, determined to end what officials described as cowardly attacks on civilian populations,’ the statement said.

Meanwhile, Governor AbdulRazaq visited Oke-Ode in Ifelodun Local Government to sympathise with the families of victims of the most recent attacks.

Daily Trust reports that the visit is coming in the wake of the last bandit attacks in Oke-Ode, where the police confirmed 12 deaths and several injuries.

The governor, who prayed for the repose of the souls lost, applauded the security forces for their sacrifices and reassured residents of the government’s resolve to restore lasting peace.

The police command in Anambra State has detained a suspected member of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) over alleged extortion and terrorism in Ihiala Local Government Area of the state.

The 62-year-old male suspect was also an informant of the group and in charge of an extortion network operating in the area.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday in Awka.

He said that operatives of the command attached to the Rapid Response Squad, Awkuzu, on Oct. 1, arrested the suspect and alleged informant of a secessionist group.

According to him, the suspect was also anchoring a major extortion network operating in parts of Ihiala Local Government Area of the state.

‘Preliminary information reveals that the suspect is in charge of illegal levies on traders in Isseke and Orsumoghu communities, collecting N10,000 and above monthly from each trader.

‘He is also extorting N100,000 and above from families conducting burial ceremonies before the occasion or any such related event in the area,’ he said.

He said that the illicit proceeds were allegedly remitted to his commander in a terrorist camp.

Ikenga said that the suspect is in custody and further investigation is ongoing.

The police spokesman quoted the Commissioner of Police in the state, Ikioye Orutugu, as assuring residents of the command’s continued commitment to dismantling criminal structures linked to insurgent groups.

Orutugu said that the arrest was part of the ongoing efforts to rid the state of elements exploiting innocent citizens under the guise of agitation.

Residents of Wuse Zone 6 in Abuja have raised an alarm over the rapid destruction of designated green areas in their neighbourhood, warning of severe environmental and infrastructural consequences if unchecked construction continues.

Speaking during a protest on Thursday, Chairman of the Wuse Zone 6 Neighbourhood Residents Association, Alhaji Ayinde Soaga, said the green spaces were deliberately preserved in Abuja’s Master Plan to serve dual purposes, providing greenery and protecting underground utility corridors.

‘Already, residents of Wuse Zone 6 are facing the environmental menace of burst water pipes, blocked sewer lines, and contamination with sewer materials.

‘There is hardly any street in Wuse Zone 6 that does not have sewer lines bleeding onto the streets, making them very smelly and unsightly,’ Soaga said.

He warned that the outbreak of water-borne diseases was imminent, citing the built-up estate on the former Julius Berger Park as a major contributor to the crisis.

He added that experts say the consequences of building on these lands include water shortages, sewage leaks, flooding, and reduced air quality.

‘Green spaces are not empty land for sale. They are lifelines. Building on them puts the entire community in danger.’

The residents also expressed concern over the loss of recreational spaces and the strain on roads, drainage systems, and power supply due to overdevelopment.

Notable sites under construction, according to them, include Julius Berger Park, Gilmor Gardens on Rabat Street, and the garden at Tunis/Bissau junction.

‘These areas sit atop underground sewage and water pipelines. Building on them could be catastrophic,’ Soaga added.

The association urged the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and Development Control authorities to enforce the Abuja Master Plan and halt further development on green zones to protect public health and infrastructure.

The European Union (EU) has warned that Nigeria is at risk of experiencing the shortcomings associated with the 2023 general election in 2027 if reforms are not concluded before the polls.

At a press conference in Abuja on Friday, Barry Andrews, member of the European Parliament and former Chief Observer of the EU Election Observation Mission (EOM) for the 2023 polls, declared that Nigeria’s progress on electoral reforms has been ‘modest at best, dangerously close to stagnation.’

‘The country’s democratic resilience depends on reforms that citizens can believe in, and while we welcome the legislative momentum seen in the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2025 and the ongoing constitutional review process, time is rapidly running out.

‘Unless these reforms are concluded within the next few months, there is a risk of repeating the serious shortcomings of 2023. We encourage all political actors to seize the momentum to deliver reforms that can safeguard transparency, inclusiveness and credibility in the 2027 elections.’ According to the EU Follow-Up Mission, of the 23 priority reforms proposed after Nigeria’s troubled 2023 elections, only one has been fully implemented.

Two others are partially adopted, eight remain ongoing, nine are untouched, and three are too early to assess, warning that this lethargy threatens to derail preparations for 2027.

‘Time is running out. The window is closing. Without real political will, Nigerians will face the same disputes, mistrust and chaos that plagued the last elections,’ Andrews cautioned.

The EU outlined six critical reforms that must be delivered well in advance of 2027: transparent INEC appointments, election results transparency, women’s representation, creation of an Independent Electoral Offences Commission to end impunity for vote-buying, violence, and intimidation, passage of the 2025 Electoral Act Amendment and constitutional reforms to give INEC a stable legal framework and media freedom and journalist protection.

‘INEC cannot operate on shifting ground,’ Andrews stressed, adding, ‘It needs a clear, stable legal framework well in advance of elections. Timing is everything.’

Electoral impunity also loomed large. ‘Vote buying, violence and intimidation remain unchecked,’ the mission said. ‘Prosecutions are so few that they do nothing to deter criminal activity.’

On media freedoms, the EU demanded stronger protections: ‘A free press is non-negotiable in any democracy. Journalists must be shielded, not silenced.’

EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mr Gautier Mignot, in his closing remark, reaffirmed the EU’s commitment to Nigeria’s democratic journey, stressing that while the EU can assist, implementation rests squarely with Nigerian leaders.

‘We are fully backing Nigeria through our democratic governance support programme,’ he said. ‘But these are recommendations that Nigeria must own. The credibility of your democracy depends on it.’

The EU Follow-Up Mission will remain in Nigeria for a week before submitting its progress report and recommendations.

Armed bandits have reportedly abducted a mother and her two children in Egbe, Yagba West Local Government Area of Kogi State.

The incident occurred at 2am on Friday when the gunmen invaded the house of one Tokpe Gody at Bareke-Egbe, and took away his wife and two of their children after sporadic shooting in the town.

It was gathered that the man sustained serious gunshot injuries while trying to escape.

Gody, a farmer, was said to be critically ill and on admission at Egbe hospital where he is receiving treatment. Locals said the family and the entire community members are gripped with fear as the kidnappers have not made any contact.

According to a resident of the community, Samuel Adeyemi, ‘Tokpe Gody escaped by whiskers from the invading bandits who struck his resident around 2am today Friday. But his wife and two of his children were not so lucky as the bandits forcibly carried them away to their hideout in the community.

‘He received gun wound in his body and legs in the process of trying to escape from his assailants. His condition is not stable as at this morning. He is an ordinary farmer who struggles to keep his family afloat amid the current challenges of today’s Nigeria.’

The incident came on the heels of another attack in the area, where a commercial motorcyclist, popularly known as Okada rider, was killed by bandits on Thursday in Ejiba community.

The Okada rider, whose identity was yet to be established, and with serial number 256 on his motorbike, was said to have been ambushed while riding along the Isanlu road.

According to a resident of Ejiba, Musliu Agabi, the bandits opened fire on the victim for refusing to stop after being flagged down.

Agabi said, ‘He was on a high speed when he rode into the ambush of his killers around 12 pm. For his inability to stop immediately, when he was flagged down, the bandits shot and killed him instantly.’

In a separate incident, a pastor and his wife were kidnapped by bandits on Wednesday along Egbe-Eruku Road on Wednesday while travelling to Illorin from Mopa.

It would be recalled that on September 10th 2025, gunmen attacked a security checkpoint in Egbe, killing three police officers. The same day, the bandits invaded a vigilante post located along Egbe-Eruku road towards Kwara State, killing two vigilante members.

The Kogi State police command’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP William Aya, could not be reached for comments as of the time of filing this report.

The police in Ekiti State have arraigned a 42-year-old man, Ajayi Oluwatosin, at the Chief Magistrate Court in Ado-Ekiti over an alleged sexual assault of a woman.

The prosecutor, Inspector Akinwale Oriyomi, told the court that the defendant, on or about September 18 at Iworoko-Ekiti, within the Igbemo-Ekiti Magisterial District, did assault one Okuwoga Ibukun without her consent.

Inspector Oriyomi noted that the defendant committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 269(1) of the Criminal Law of Ekiti State 2021.

Counsel to the defendant, Barrister O. G. Abiola, urged the court to grant his client bail on liberal terms, stating he would not jump bail.

The Chief Magistrate, Mr. Abayomi Adeosun, granted him bail in the sum of N50,000 with one surety in like sum.

The case was adjourned until October 23, for hearing.

The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, says construction of Arterial Road S1 from Ring Road II to FCT Fire Service Station in Kaura District, will significantly improve emergency response time.

Wike stated this during the inauguration of the project in Abuja on Tuesday.

The minister said ‘We have always talked about fire incidents and the response is not usually timely.

‘It’s not only the fact that maybe they may be lacking some basic amenities, but also they don’t have a good network of roads that will enable them to move quickly to resolve fire incidents.

‘By the time this road is constructed with a three-span bridge, of course anywhere there is any fire incident and they are called upon, they will respond immediately,

‘Again, this is also to contribute to the efficiency in their job delivery.” he said (NAN).

Wike said that the road would be slightly above two kilometres but a very important road that would open up the Kaura District.

In 2003, on the watch of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the World Values Survey declared Nigeria as home to the world’s happiest people. By 2024, however, Nigeria had plummeted from this endearing and shimmering position to 104 in the happiness index.

In spite of this precipitous plunge to the nadir of happiness – and for obvious reasons – tribute must be paid to the forbearance and fortitude of Nigerians. For in spite of difficulties, equating, if not surpassing those of such basket cases as Nepal and Bangladesh, Nigerians have carried on with uncommon perseverance and long-suffering.

By the same token, homage must be paid to the can-do and never-say-die spirit of the Nigerian. This spirit is epitomised and exemplified by the tendency of the Nigerian, against the odds, to fend for himself/herself in nearly all facets of life. Where governments – federal, state and local – are hopelessly derelict in providing such basic infrastructure and amenities as roads, water, electricity, schools, hospitals, etc. – Nigerians, especially better-heeled ones, are forthcoming. They have weighed in, thereby filling these lacunae.

Most Nigerians provide access roads to their estates, streets and households. They drill their boreholes. They invest in private schools (Crèche, Primary and Tertiary). They invest in solar panels to make up for the shortcomings of our electricity and distributing companies (GENCOs and DISCOs), whose acronyms do not suggest or convey any seriousness or sense of purpose.

If homage is paid to Nigerians for providing for themselves, where their governments have failed, woefully and spectacularly, tribute must be paid to their sense of enterprise and industry. Drawing from a proud work ethic that celebrates and lionizes persons who fend for themselves and others rather than relying on handouts, most Nigerians have found recourse in one enterprise or the other. This has led to a proliferation of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) across the country.

Referred to in economic parlance as the informal sector, small businesses employ more Nigerians than any other, apart from the agricultural one, which hitherto led the way until the advent of oil.

In spite of the behemoth known as the Organised Private Sector (OPS), the informal sector of the economy has co-opted many of our youths, who ordinarily would have been idling away or constituting a menace, from our streets. This has kept millions of our youths gainfully employed. It has also imbued them with genuine hope.

Yet, even this sector, arising from the vagaries of government policies and predilections, is receiving one of its severest buffetings. This writer’s survey of a number of small businesses in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and four states adjoining it, suggests that they are facing a number of existential and life-threatening headwinds.

Power or electricity is one of the major challenges. Sometimes, for nearly one week, electricity will not be supplied by the DISCOs covering these states and the FCT to the chagrin of businesses. A week ago, nearly all districts of the FCT went without electricity for five days. It was the same in neighbouring Niger State. Kaduna was worse: It went without electricity for seven days, reducing that state to the Stone Age.

In the absence of electricity, most businesses in these states and the FCT have had to rely on generators, thus incurring additional costs. And since they are located in what are referred to as civil service states, their being bereft of industries, they run on losses. They can hardly pass off these costs on their customers who are smarting under cost of living crises and whose disposable incomes have shrunk to near zero.

Transportation is another challenge. Following the withdrawal of fuel subsidy, the cost of transportation has quadrupled. In most cases, workers do not reside close to their places of employment. In Abuja, this state of affairs is worse: Not less than ninety percent of workers reside in suburbs and outskirts outside the City Centre. This has compelled employers to increase salaries marginally, to downsize or to devise a curious roaster in which staffers come to work thrice in a week and in rotation. These, of course, have consequences for morale and joblessness.

In one hotel at Wuse II, investigations show that most of the staffers have been laid off due to the hard times. Staffers are invited to work only on a need basis and when the hotel records a high volume of room bookings. Meanwhile, whether there are guests or not, the hotel must run its generators on a daily basis to secure the premises, present a semblance of activity and preserve the foodstuffs it has stocked in its refrigerators.

Compounding the contrivance of an intriguing working roaster for staff or finding recourse in casuals, which offends Labour practices, are multiple taxations imposed, roughshod by federal, state and local governments. In nearly all these states and the FCT, demand notices for ground rents are issued by the state and Local Governments simultaneously. All manner of taxes are also demanded. Worse of all, they are usually issued cavalierly and with sadistic relish. It is as if the business person has committed an offence for daring to venture out or to invest.

These obnoxious multiple taxations and other vexatious charges have reared their heads in recent times. These have arisen out of a frenzied quest for Internally Generated Revenues (IGRs). It is healthy for states to generate revenue and to rely less on statutory monthly federal allocations. But the haughty manner in which taxes are imposed and the sadistic manner in which they are exacted goes beyond the pale. It hardly encourages the small business person to venture out or to invest, thereby creating jobs in the process. Neither have we seen, apart from white elephant flyovers being constructed in state capitals, any concerted efforts by state governments to address our infrastructure deficit or the provision of amenities.

This writeup is intended to call attention to the havoc governments, especially state and local, are wrecking on businesses and the urgent need for our tax reform to streamline and harmonise taxes in the three tiers of government.

The fears of the small business person must not only be assuaged, an environment must be created for him/her to thrive. Otherwise, rather than grow, the economy will remain in its doldrums with negative consequences.

The continuously lower contribution of the manufacturing sector to Nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) should instruct us. By the recent accounting of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the contribution of the Manufacturing sector to Nominal GDP in the second quarter of 2025 was 6.87%, lower than the figure recorded in the corresponding period of 2024 at 7.84% and for good measure, lower than the first quarter of 2025 which was 10.78%. We don’t have any figures relating to the growth rate of the informal sector. But your guess is as good as mine!