Nigeria police could not account for thousands of firearms, including 88,078 AK-47 rifles, an audit report published by the auditor general of the federation on Tuesday showed.

Missing firearms raise worries in a country fighting growing insecurity from Islamist insurgents in the northeast and armed kidnappings and banditry in the north and northwest.

In his latest report published on its website and covering the period to December 2019, Auditor General Adolphus Aghughu said that a review of arms movement from police armouries in Nigeria showed several weapons were missing and unaccounted for.

Police did not respond to written request for comment.

"The total number of lost firearms as reported as at December 2018 was 178,459 pieces. Out of this number, 88,078 were AK-47 rifles," the report said.

It did not specify whether the figures were for 2018 alone or over a period up to that time. There was a risk the firearms could get into the wrong hands or used for illegal activities, said the report.

The auditor general's report is before a joint public accounts committee of Senate and Lower House, which will scrutinise it, invite the police to respond and give recommendations.

The constitution empowers the auditor general to conduct audit checks on all government departments.

SBM Intelligence said in a report in October 2020 that proliferation of small arms and ammunitions was driving the increasing violence in Nigeria, with civilian non-state actors believed to possess more small arms than law enforcement agents.

Reuters

PRESS RELEASE

A Chief Economic Adviser to the President (CEAP) has been appointed.

He is Doyin Salami, up till now Chairman of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC).

A 1989 doctorate degree graduate in Economics of Queen Mary College, University of London, Doyin Salami, 59, is Managing Director and Head Markets Practice at KAINOS Edge Consulting Limited, and member of the Adjunct Faculty at the Lagos Business School (LBS), Pan-Atlantic University, where he recently attained the rank of Senior Fellow/Associate Professor.

The Chief Economic Adviser to the President is expected to address all issues on the domestic economy and present views on them to the President; closely monitor national and international developments, trends and develop appropriate policy responses; develop and recommend to the President national economic policies to foster macro-economic stability, promote growth, create jobs, and eradicate poverty, among others.

Femi Adesina

Special Adviser to the President

(Media and Publicity)

January 4, 2022

Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) says the recitation of Nigerian national anthem will henceforth be banned in schools in the Southeast. 

Chika Edoziem, IPOB director of state, stated this in a New Year message announcing the plans of the proscribed separatist group for 2022.

Edoziem said school authorities in the Southeast should only teach “the Biafran national anthem”.

He also said all supporters of IPOB across the world would embark on a global campaign to ensure the release of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the group, from custody.

“The following are some of the programmes and actions which the leadership will vigorously pursue in 2022. These are the ones we can make public for now. Others will be made known at the appropriate time,” Edoziem said.

“Worldwide campaign for the unconditional release of Onyendu Nnamdi Kanu (A Prisoner of Conscience). The Campaign will be called the ‘prisoner of conscience campaign’. In furtherance of this campaign, all IPOB family members, Biafrans and friends of Biafra are hereby urged to change their profile pictures on social media with our official campaign poster.

“Secondly, all IPOB families worldwide are hereby directed to activate the earlier instruction passed down to them. We shall embark on a worldwide protest in cities and capitals around the world. The focus of our protest shall be British embassies, the British Parliament, 10 downing street, the Kenyan Embassies, the Zoo Nigerian embassies and International Organizations like the UN, the EU, Amnesty International and media houses

“The DOS will be creating a new department in IPOB to add to those already existing under the directorate of state. The department will be designated as the IPOB education department. Primary responsibility is to teach our history, language, tradition and culture to our children. We have about three books that will be published this new year in furtherance of this. After the head of this department is made public, Biafran writers will be called upon to bring forward books and educational materials to be published for our children in primary and secondary schools.

“Beginning from tonight, no more Nigerian national anthems in all schools in Biafraland. Our children must no longer be reminded daily that they are under oppression by singing the national anthem of the oppressor. School authorities and proprietors have a responsibility to teach our children our national anthem: The Biafran National Anthem.”

The Cable

China, Russia, Britain, the United States and France have agreed that a further spread of nuclear arms and a nuclear war should be avoided, according to a joint statement by the five nuclear powers published by the Kremlin on Monday.

It said that the five countries - which are the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - consider it their primary responsibility to avoid war between the nuclear states and to reduce strategic risks, while aiming to work with all countries to create an atmosphere of security.

"We affirm that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought," the English-language version of the statement read.

"As nuclear use would have far-reaching consequences, we also affirm that nuclear weapons — for as long as they continue to exist — should serve defensive purposes, deter aggression, and prevent war."

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu said the joint statement could help increase mutual trust and "replace competition among major powers with coordination and cooperation," adding that China has a "no first use" policy on nuclear weapons, state news agency Xinhua reported.

France also released the statement, underscoring that the five powers reiterated their determination for nuclear arms control and disarmament. They would continue bilateral and multilateral approaches to nuclear arms control, it said.

The statement from the so-called P5 group comes as bilateral relations between the United States and Moscow have fallen to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War, while relations between Washington and China are also at a low over a range of disagreements.

The Pentagon in November sharply increased its estimate of China's projected nuclear weapons arsenal over the coming years, saying Beijing could have 700 warheads by 2027 and possibly 1,000 by 2030.

Washington has repeatedly urged China to join it and Russia in a new arms control treaty.

Geopolitical tensions between Moscow and Western countries have increased over concerns about Russia's military buildup near neighbouring Ukraine. Moscow says it can move its army around its own territory as it deems necessary.

Last Thursday U.S. President Joe Biden told his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, that a possible move on Ukraine would draw sanctions and an increased U.S. presence in Europe.

U.S. and Russian officials will hold security talks on Jan. 10 to discuss concerns about their respective military activity and confront rising tensions over Ukraine, the two countries said.

A conference on a major nuclear treaty that was set to begin on Tuesday at the United Nations has been postponed until August due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Reuters

A multiple fatal accident involving two passenger buses and a Mitsubishi Cabster has claimed seven lives with twelve injured along Kere, Ewekoro axis, inbound Abeokuta, Ogun State.

According to a statement released by the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps, TRACE, the accident occured around 1:45 pm.

Officials of TRACE, Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC were reportedly the first responders trying to rescue the victims.

The accident was allegedly caused by the Mitsubishi cabster with number plate XS 595 JJJ, which drove against traffic while the two white passenger buses with number plates LSR 266 YD and LND 01 YE were also overspeeding.

Twelve people including 7 male adults, 4 female adults and 1 female child were seriously injured while 7 people including 4 male adult, 1 female adult, 1 female child and 1 male child were reported dead.

The Ewekoro Command of TRACE said the Injured victims were taken to Ijaye General Hospital and the Federal Medical center, Idi-Aba while those presumed dead were deposited at the Ijaye General Hospital by officers of the FRSC.

Traffic was initially diverted from inbound to outbound Abeokuta for the removal of the vehicles after which the road was cleared for free flow of traffic.

By Dahiru Maishanu

This is not the first time the issue of the Almajiri System in Nigeria has caught the attention of my pen. I wrote ‘The Almajiri Syndrome' at the early turn of the millennium while ‘sweating it out' at the Hague University School of Graduate Studies.

At the risk of vituperations,  vexatious reactions and clergy condemnations from religious and traditional jingoists both from and outside of the box, I smarted up, wrote and damned the expected reactionary consequences. 

After a little over two decades on, the report is sadly worse than it was then,  in multiples. The Almajiri has remained the most abused personae in Nigeria’s North and beyond. Abused and abandoned, the almajiri has been forced to turn into monsters separately called Boko Haram, Bandit, Shekau, Turji and many more to come. The Almajiri would rather be deleted than exist. 

The Almajiri system, we were told had a genuine intention of educating the young as the intent, ab initio, through a collegiate system of sending young children as early as 4 years to strange environments to be taught religious and Arabic education through equally, a strange tutelage of a Teacher,  hundreds of miles a far. Whether the intention and concept were right at inception are not the subject of debate here, but what has become of them today.

The Almajiri is the most visible tragedy seen on the streets of all northern Nigerian cities and beyond. They litter at garages, ATM centers, Hotels, brothels, motor parks, Go-slow gridlocks  and even Church and Mosque gates. 

They often end up as street urchins (area boys), male prostitutes, petty and hard criminals, garage boys and most recently, Boko Haram, Iswap and Bandits as well as dangerous tools for desperate politicians to get at one another’s’ throats. 

From the traditional/ religious leaders to the elites within government, corporate businesses and the academia, we are all guilty in this. 

We are not naive, but afraid to say the truth. We pretend in identifying with the sufferings of the Almajiri, while in reality we enjoy seeing them continue to suffer so that they become different with our children. We align the system to religion dogmatically, while ignoring the fault lines. We have been lying to ourselves, consciously.

I stand to be corrected, but have you seen any Almajiri born of parents from urban and or semi urban dwellings? Why is it only parents from remote villages send their children to this channel of no return? 

The system, as it is, has continued to cause embarrassment and mockery to us and our faith, if the truth must be told. The fate of these vulnerable creatures lay on the crests of our shoulders and heads. The system most be reviewed, modified and remodeled to conform with present realities and challenges. Happy New Year

Dahiru Maishanu, BBA,(IBMS),MBA (The Hague) was a former commissioner in Sokoto State. 

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari, has called on residents of the state to arm themselves and confront bandits because security officials alone cannot tackle insecurity in the state.

Katsina, like other Northwest states of Zamfara, Kaduna, Sokoto and Kebbi, has witnessed incessant attacks by terror groups.

Hundreds of people have been killed or kidnapped in Katsina this year with thousands more displaced from their homes.

Speaking during a media parley with journalists at the Muhammadu Buhari House in Katsina, Masari said the number of security personnel is not enough to tackle the situation.

“It’s Islamically allowed for one to defend himself against attack. One must rise to defend himself, his family and assets. If you die while trying to defend yourself, you’ll be considered a martyr. It’s surprising how a bandit would own a gun while a good man trying to defend himself and his family doesn’t have one,” the governor said.

Masari said the state government would help those who plan to own arms with the view to help bring an end to banditry.

“We’ll support those who come with the initiative to procure arms because residents need to also complement the efforts of security agencies. These people (security agents) don’t have the number to protect the people. When President Buhari came, he even tried by increasing the number of our security agents but it’s inadequate. Count it yourself, how many policemen do we have in this country? How many soldiers do we have?

“Even if we say every policeman should go back to his home state, it’ll still not be enough. So, if we fold arms and decide to do nothing, we’ll be the ones to suffer most,” he lamented.

Masari said the police would register all guns bought by the residents to ensure they are put to the right use.

PT

It's been a busy and productive year in the field of positive psychology.

This year has been a banner year for science as researchers around the globe turned out vaccines and new therapeutics in near miraculous times. But the pandemic hasn't just turned up the pressure on our physical health. It's been a pressure cooker for our mental health too.

And just as brilliant medical researchers have been racing to make discoveries that will keep us physically healthier, psychologists and behavioral scientists have been hard at work figuring out how we can all be a little happier, more resilient, and well adjusted in a world that often feels like it's going off the rails.

The UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center's online magazine chronicles these breakthroughs throughout the year and helpfully rounds up some of the most important and useful each December. Some are niche insights for therapists or educators, but a handful can help just about any of us have a more joyful and meaningful 2022.

1. Uncertainty pushes us to stop and smell the roses.

This pandemic has had very, very few silver linings, but positive psychology researchers may have uncovered at least one. It turns out the more wildly uncertain your life is, the more likely you are to stop and smell the roses.

"Researchers handed out flyers to pedestrians that said 'Life is unpredictable: Stop and smell the roses' or 'Life is constant: Stop and smell the roses.' A short distance away was a table with a dozen red roses on it--and the people who read that life is unpredictable literally smelled the roses 2.5 times more often than the others," Greater Good reports. Which is cute, but does this effect actually translate to real life?

Apparently yes. When the same researchers "pinged 6,000 participants up to a dozen times a day, asking how chaotic and unpredictable the world felt and whether they were savoring the present. It turned out that when the world felt messy, people were more likely to be savoring their lives a few hours later, at the next ping."

We'd all love to see the end of this virus, of course, but perhaps it will cheer you to know it's pushing us all to pay more attention to the life's small pleasures. Maybe we'll even keep this newfound good habit once we fully settle back into a more predictable routine.

2. There's a right and wrong way to daydream.

We're bombarded with advice on how to eat right, exercise more efficiently, and work smarter. The last thing we need is advice on how to optimize our daydreaming, right?

But new science insists that there is actually a correct (and wrong) way to daydream. One approach leads to fresh ideas. The other way leads straight to anxiety. What's the difference? Mind-wandering, where you're thinking about something other than the task at hand but in a focused way, makes you feel lousy. But when your thoughts are free flowing and meander from topic to topic, daydreaming makes you happier and more creative.

Here's the bottom-line takeaway from Greater Good: "We don't have to be 100% focused all the time. So, if you want to be more creative and happier, don't feel guilty about doing a little daydreaming."

3. You are surrounded by opportunities for empathy.

An absolute boatload of science shows that empathy helps you succeed in life and at work. Which is handy to know but also a little abstract. It's easy enough to tout the benefits of empathy in the abstract, but actually increasing your empathy in your day-to-day life is much harder, right?

Actually no, says new research out this year. Scientists actually measured and it turns out we all encounter an average of nine opportunities to show empathy every single day. And the more we seize the opportunities the better we feel.

"People who saw more empathy opportunities and empathized more were happier and had greater well-being," Greater Good sums up. "This suggests that our daily lives are filled with opportunities to practice empathy, including opportunities to share in other people's happy moments, if we just look out for them."

4. Compassion makes us more resilient.

Lots of people (myself included) feel like the pandemic has worn down their capacity for compassion. After nearly two years of disruption and disagreement, it's sometimes incredibly hard to muster much sympathy for those with a different approach to the virus (or, on our worst days, much of anyone really).

But new research out this year might just convince you to dig deep for your last reserves of empathy. A poll of 4,000 people in 21 countries "found that participants who expressed a fear of showing compassion for themselves or others were likely to feel more depressed, anxious, and stressed out during the pandemic."

Other studies confirmed these findings. Nudging yourself to empathize with others (even those you disagree with) might sound like a recipe for emotional exhaustion, but compassion seems to give us resilience in a crisis. Counterintuitively, empathy is in your own psychological self-interest.

5. Turning off your camera helps reduce Zoom fatigue.

And here's an immediately useful if not wildly surprising finding to end on: if too many video meetings leave you feeling emotionally frayed by the end of the day, try just turning off the camera.

A host of research has been done into the incredibly topical phenomenon of Zoom fatigue this year, with scientists identifying a range of causes. You can check out the complete Greater Good article for all the details but the bottom line solution (besides the obvious one of avoiding unnecessary meetings) is simple: "Turn off the cameras, both ways, at least from time to time."

Inc

No fewer than 15,049 nurses trained in Nigeria obtained licence to practise in the United Kingdom within a period of five years spanning from March 2017 to March 2021, The PUNCH has learnt. This translates to more than 8 nurses leaving Nigeria for UK daily within the period.

This was disclosed in a report obtained from the Nursing and Midwifery Council of the UK on Tuesday in Abuja.

Our correspondent observed that Nigeria is the third highest country with foreign nurses in England coming after the Philippines and India.

NMC is the UK body responsible for the registration of professionals eligible to practise in the UK. The body also investigates concerns about nurses, midwives and nursing associates.

In the report, NMC said, “The number of people on the permanent register in England who trained outside the European Economic Area continues to grow. As of March 2017, the body stated that 2,670 Nigerian nurses registered on the register. In March 2018, the body noted that 2,678 registered between March 2017 and March 2018.

“March 2019 saw a record of 2,771 while the number of nurses who registered between March 2019 and March 2020 increased to 3,205. Within this period, the body noted that it opened a temporary Covid-19 register to accommodate nurses willing to practise.”

Alhough the body did not state the number of Nigerian nurses on the temporary Covid-19 register, it stated that between March 2020 and March 2021, a total of 3,725 Nigerian nurses registered and were granted licenses.

Nigeria comes third in the list of foreign countries with nurses practicing in the UK coming after The Philippines and India.

Nigerian health sector is currently facing challenges in the area of brain drain as medical doctors and other health workers have continued to migrate over the years due to what experts tagged as “unfavorable” working conditions.

Punch

Lauretta Fagbohun, Ogun

...laments state's loss of $16b Dangote refinery to Lagos

The Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun says his administration is working towards ensuring the state takes advantage of its oil rich deposit and becomes an oil producing state.

Abiodun gave this position during the Convocation Lecture he delivered at the 2nd and 3rd convocation ceremony of the Mountain Top University with the topic, "Quest for Excellence: The Nexus of Faith, Knowledge and Resilience".

The governor expressed disappointment that Ogun lost a $16b Dangote refinery to Lagos after a break in discussion between the immediate past administration and Dangote.

He, however, expressed optimism that the state will become an oil producing state, saying "we are working assiduously on that, so, I accept this challenge, we will further strengthen our resolve to ensure that we bring Ogun State to an oil producing status in the very near future".

Abiodun, while also noting that he had the privilege to work as the chairman of the Olokola Free Trade Zone that was meant to have the refinery cited in the state, added that the project was not just conceived with the aim of refining petroleum products only, but to take advantage of the mining lease awarded around the corridor.

"I worked as chairman of Olokola Free Trade Zone that was meant to have the Dangote refinery cited in Ogun Waterside, however, discussions broke down between Dangote and the then administration which led to the loss of that project to Lagos state; a sixteen billion dollar was lost to another state.

"That project was conceived with the aim of not just refining petroleum in Ogun, but also to take advantage of the mining lease that had been awarded around that corridor that has even not begun to be exploited," he said.

The governor affirmed that the state has very rich oil reserves in Tongeji Island, adding that "Ogun state is situated in the Dahomey Basin, which stands for the Niger Delta that goes all the way to Ghana".

"Everyone of the states in that corridor are oil producing today, even Ondo and Lagos states", Abiodun said.