Nsukka flood victims receive relief materials from Enugu state govt

By

Ikechukwu Odu

556 flood displaced persons in Ala Unor, Amaogbo Obukpa and Onuiyi communities in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State, Wednesday, received relief materials from the state’s Emergency Management Agency.

At the flag off of the distribution of the materials at the local government headquarters, the Secretary of the agency, Nkechi Eneh, said the state governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, directed that relief materials be distributed to the affected persons to ameliorate their sufferings, assuring them that plans are in place to bring permanent solutions to the flooding menace in the affected communities.

She said that the flooding which affected 168 households and displaced 556 persons was caused by high precipitation as a result of continuous downpour for a period of over  five hours, causing water surge towards some communities which submerged houses, farmlands and destroyed properties in Nsukka.

She also said ” As you can see, we came here with a lot of items; food and non food items such as mattresses, roofing sheets, rice, beans, garri, groundnut oil, milk and nails, beverages among others. These are some the things the state government brought to assure the victims that their welfare is of utmost concern to the  government.”

One the beneficiaries who spoke to Vanguard, Ebere Ugwuanyi,expressed gratitude to the governor for bringing succour to them. She urged the government to speed up action in bringing permanent solutions to their problem.

She said ” What we need is for government to construct roads and channel the water properly to bring this problem to a stop. We appreciate the relief items, but what if the flooding comes back and destroys them, the way it did to my property? We want something to be done urgently to remedy our situation. I and my households slept the neighbourhood for one week after the incident, ” she announced.

Another beneficiary, Pascal Ogbonna, regretted that no government has been able to bring permanent solution to the problem of flooding in his community, Onuiyi.

He said a lot of households have been rendered homeless by the incident.

Earlier in his remarks, the council chairman, Patrick Omeje (Jnr), said what the state governor has done is a show of his magnanimity and goodwill for the people.

He re-assured them that plans are on to wipe out their agony permanently.

Xenophobia: We are an angry nation - South Africa’s defence minister

By

Omotayo Yusuf

- Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said it will be difficult to prevent attack against foreign nationals

- The South African defence minister said criminal elements were behind the attacks

- The minister described the country as an angry nation

Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula who is the South African minister of defence has said that it will be difficult to prevent the attack against foreign national because they were planned by criminals.

There have been reported xenophobic attacks in South Africa particularly against Nigerians.

The minister of defence in an interview with eNCA, a local television channel, said South Africa is an angry nation.

She said: “The reality is that we have an angry nation. What’s happening can never be prevented by any government.

“People are saying some heads of state decided not to attend the World Economic Forum; we should be talking about why this whole thing is coinciding with that.”

Mapisa-Nqakula said it wasn’t the first time attack against foreign national have occoured and that some criminal elements were behind it.
She said: “People are saying it is xenophobic attacks but it is not the first time, we have had them in the past.

“We have criminals that have read the situation and are aware that we have challenges right now.

“We have talked on the issues of high rate of unemployment, of some foreign nationals who are not conducting themselves in an appropriate manner as we would expect, those breaking the bylaws of the country, and you now have criminal elements who have decided that we are going to use all of those things to find reasons to attack people.

“It is unfortunate and should not happen. The reality is that we need to have a serious dialogue about what is happening and we must take responsibility. The reality is that we are an angry nation and we must talk about it.”

Meanwhile, the chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, disclosed that 640 Nigerians in South Africa have voluntarily registered to return home following the xenophobic attacks in the country.

Dabiri-Erewa who disclosed this after a closed door meeting with the Senate committee on Diaspora and non-governmental organisations in Abuja on Monday, September 9 said that the volunteers would arrive in Nigeria in a couple of days.

Corps members monthly 'allowee' to be increased soon - NYSC DG

- NYSC DG, Brig Gen Shuaibu Ibrahim, says corps members monthly allowance will be increased as soon as FG starts payment of the new minimum wage nationwide

- Ibrahim said efforts were in top gear at all levels to ensure adequate welfare for all corps members.

- The NYSC DG also urged corps members to imbibe good morals and serve as responsible role models in their host communities

National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members have been assured by the scheme’s director-general, Brig Gen Shuaibu Ibrahim, that immediately the federal government starts the payment of the new minimum wage to all public servants nationwide, their monthly allowance would be increased.

The NYSC DG stated this while interacting with corps members during his working visit to the Lagos state Orientation Camp, Iyana-Ipaja, on Monday, September 2, Daily Trust reports.

Information has it that a statement signed by the NYSC’s director, press and public relations, Mrs Adenike Adeyemi, quoted Ibrahim as stating that efforts were in top gear at all levels to ensure adequate welfare for all corps members.
The DG, however, advised corps members not to embark on unauthorised journeys which may earn them sanctions from the NYSC and also endanger their lives.

Shuaibu warned that in line with NYSC rules, violators of by-laws would be dealt with.

He said: “Don’t debase yourselves, study the by-law, including the NYSC Act, and be law-abiding. Don’t participate in politics, avoid religious and tribal differences.”

He advised the corps members to serve as agents of national unity and not spread rumours on social media.

Shuaibu further urged them to imbibe good morals and serve as responsible role models in their host communities.

UNAA: Career Mentoring and Capacity Building Seminar

UNN Alumni  is organizing a Career Mentoring and Capacity Building Seminar  on September 5, 2019 at Ekpo Convocation Arena, UNN.  Do well to attend as it promises to be enlightening. https://www.unn.edu.ng/career-mentoring-and-capacity-building-seminar/

UNN Released CBT Second Semester Examination Time-table

The University of Nigeria, Nsukka has released her CBT Examination Time-table for Second Semester 2018/2019 Academic Session. Students can follow this link to view same: https://www.unn.edu.ng/cbttimetable/

South Africa: Scores arrested in looting, xenophobic protests

South African police on Monday arrested dozens of people following widespread looting and protests in the transport industry linked to a wave of anti-foreigner sentiment.

At least 70 people have been arrested since hundreds of people marched through Johannesburg’s Central Business District (CBD) earlier on Monday, plundering shops and torching cars and buildings, the police said in a statement.

The unrest started on Sunday when an old building in the CBD caught fire and collapsed, killing at least three people.

It then spread to two eastern suburbs and to the capital Pretoria, where local media reported shops burning in the Marabastad - a central business area largely populated by economic migrants.

Police also said they were investigating a death in Hillbrow, where a “member of the public” was allegedly shot by a group.

“At this stage police are still interviewing several people to establish the motive,” said a statement by the provincial commissioner.

Such violence breaks out sporadically in South Africa, where many nationals blame immigrants for high unemployment, particularly in manual labour.

South Africa is a major destination for economic migrants from the southern Africa region, with many moving from neighbouring Lesotho, Mozambique and Zimbabwe in search for work.

Police Minister Bheki Cele insisted recent violence was linked to “criminality” rather than “xenophobia”.

“[Xenophobia] is used as an excuse,” Cele told journalists after a tour of the CBD.

“For now there is nothing that has sparked any form of this conflict between the South Africans and foreign nationals.”

‘Enough is enough’

Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama reacted strongly to the scenes of violence.

“Received sickening and depressing news of continued burning and looting of Nigerian shops and premises in #SouthAfrica by mindless criminals with ineffective police protection,” he said on Twitter.

“Enough is enough.

We will take definitive measures.”



Separately, police in the southeastern province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) said at least 20 individuals had been arrested “in connection with incidents related to protests within the trucking industry”.

Taxi drivers clashed with police in Pretoria last week, and truckers started a nation-wide strike on Sunday to protest against the employment of foreign drivers.

Eleven trucks on Sunday blocked the road to Richards Bay Harbour, one of the deepest natural harbours in Africa, said KZN police. They told AFP at least four vehicles had been torched.

Lieutenant-General Khombinkosi Jula, police chief for KZN province, said they had intensified patrols along major routes.

In the Western Cape province, several protesters also blocked traffic by parking their vehicles on the road and offloading bags of sand.

“These incidents are due to a failing economy in which more than 10 million South Africans cannot find work,” said the Democratic Alliance (DA) opposition party in response to the violence.

Human Rights Watch last week reported that dozens of truck drivers in the country had died in attacks against foreigners since March 2018.

The report was released after a recent spate of xenophobic violence fuelled by economic decline and record unemployment.

A South African truck owners’ association quoted by the HRW reported 75 such incidents since March this year, 15 of which were independently confirmed by the watchdog.

‘Hungry and angry’

The latest population census in 2011 shows that numbers of migrants surged in the previous decade, with nearly half having moved to South Africa between 2005 and 2010. An unknown number of the migrants are undocumented.

Labour ministry spokesman Makhosonke Buthelezi last week told AFP that employers “prefer (foreign truck drivers) because they can work long hours at a much cheaper cost, so they tend to exploit them”.

Sipho Zungu, chairman of the All Truck Drivers Foundation told AFP his group had had “nothing to do with the strike”, but stressed that it was fighting for the employment of South African drivers.

“People of South Africa are hungry, they are sitting at home.. while companies in South Africa are employing foreigners ...[because] its cheap labour. We are hungry and angry,” Zungu told AFP.

The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union, which has over 200 000 members, also distanced itself from the violence.