NEWS
Undersea Cable Cut: MainOne Restores Service to Some Customers
MainOne, a Digital Infrastructure Service Provider on Saturday said that it had restored service to some customers and was actively working on restoring all services through capacity acquired on available cable systems.
The organisation made this known via a statement on its website in response to news reports that it would take two weeks to five weeks for it to restore internet services.
The statement said that the estimated repair time that it had earlier declared was for its submarine cable fault to be fixed.
“The repair time is to enable our services to become fully restored and independently supply capacity to customers.
“We have already restored services to some customers and are actively working on restoring services to others via capacity acquired on available cable systems,’’ the statement said.
Earlier, MainOne said that it recognised the impact of the outage and was working tirelessly to make available restoration of capacity for temporal relief where feasible.
‘’We are very optimistic that our cable will be repaired as planned and services fully restored so that we can continue to operate with continued integrity of the submarine cable,” it said.
The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) had said that the internet disruptions being experienced by organisations, banks, individuals were as a result of damage affecting major undersea cables near Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire.
The NCC said that the damage was causing downtime across West and South African countries.
It said that the cuts occurred somewhere in Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, with an attendant disruption in Portugal.
It said that cable companies – West African Cable System (WACS) and African Coast to Europe (ACE) in the West Coast route from Europe – had experienced faults, while SAT3 and MainOne had downtime.
The regulatory body added that similar undersea cables providing traffic from Europe to the East Coast of Africa, like Seacom, Europe India Gateway (EIG), Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE1), were said to have been cut at some point around the Red Sea.
This, it said, resulted in degradation of services across these routes.
Reports says further that in an earlier statement, MainOne had declared a force majeure on its contractual obligations while explaining steps to restore connectivity.
The force majeure is an unforeseeable circumstance that prevents someone from fulfilling a contract.
The unforeseen circumstances maybe natural disasters (fire, storms, floods), or governmental or societal actions (war, invasion, civil unrest, labour strikes), or infrastructure failures (transportation, energy).
MainOne, an Equinix company, is one of the leading data centre and connectivity solution provider with presence in Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. (NAN)
NEWS
Okpebholo Freezes Edo Accounts, Orders Reversal of Ministry’s Name
Gov. Monday Okpebholo of Edo has ordered immediate freezing of all the state bank accounts until further notice.Okpebholo gave the directive in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Fred Itua, on Thursday in Benin.He warned that non-compliance by commercial banks as well as heads of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) would result in severe penalties.
“All bank accounts in all commercial banks are now frozen. Commercial banks must ensure strict adherence and prevent any withdrawal from government accounts until further notice,” the statement said. Okpebholo stated that necessary investigations and financial reconciliations would determine subsequent actions.He also ordered the reversal of the Ministry of Roads and Bridges to the old Ministry of Works with immediate effect.The governor cited what he called lack of completed bridges or significant road projects as a justification for changing the ministry of roads and bridges back to ministry of works.“It is ironic that despite its name, the ministry did not construct a single bridge, not even a pedestrian one,” he said.The governor directed immediate implementation and reflection of the new name across official documents and platforms. (NAN)NEWS
Breaking…….NNPC Ltd. Records 1.8mbpd Crude Oil Production
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. (NNPC Ltd.) says it has achieved 1.8 million barrels per day crude production following continuous dislodgement of pipeline vandals and crude oil thieves.Mr Lawal Musa, Chief Production War Room Officer, NNPC Ltd., said this on Thursday in Abuja during a briefing on NNPC Ltd.
production.Musa, who is also the Senior Business Advisor to Malam Mele Kyari, Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), NNPC Ltd. , said that the achievement was based on the collaboration between the leadership of NNPC, stakeholders and security agencies. “We achieved this because of the clear mandate by President Bola Tinubu to ramp up crude oil production in the country,” Musa said. (NAN)NEWS
EFCC Admits Ex-Kogi Governor’s Alleged Co-defendants to Bail
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has admitted the co-defendants in alleged money laundering charge filed against the immediate-past Governor of Kogi, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, to administrative bail.EFCC’s counsel, Jamiu Agoro, informed Justice Maryann Anenih of an Abuja High Court on Thursday upon resumed hearing in the charge.
The former governor, alongside Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, are being prosecuted as 1st to 3rd defendants, respectively, in a fresh 16-count charge instituted against them by the anti-graft agency. Agoro also sought for adjournment in the fresh case the EFCC instituted against the ex-governor, saying the 30-day window was still running for the summons earlier issued. running.The EFCC, however, said, it admitted Bello ‘s alleged co-defendants, Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, to bail and prayed the court for extension of time for the Bello to appear.At the resumed hearing before Justice Maryann Anenih , Counsel for EFCC, Jamiu Agoro, said the order of the court, given on Oct 3 had not elapsed.“In that wise, we feel it will not be appropriate for us to take proceedings while that 30 days is still running.” So we have discussed and agreed to come back on the Nov 27,” he told the court.He also noted that the Nov 20 date earlier given was not convenient for the Prosecution counsel.Counsel to the 2nd Defendant, Aliyu Saiki, SAN, confirmed that his client had been granted administrative bail by the Prosecution.He said he had no objection to the application for adjournment.The 3rd Defendant’s Counsel, ZE Abass, concurred also.The prosecution Counsel also asked the court to grant an application to paste the notice of hearing on the last known address of the former governor.After listening to all counsel, the judge granted the EFCC’s application for adjournment, including the hearing notice.“I have considered the application for adjournment by the complainant and issuance of hearing notice and the submission by the 2nd and 3rd Defendants. The application is granted,” she said.Justice Anenih thereby adjourned the case until Nov 27.Report says that Justice Anenih had on Oct. 3, 2024 issued a public summon against Bello following his absence in a fresh arraignment on 16-count charges preferred against him by the EFCC.Justice Anenih issued the summon in a ruling following an ex parte application by EFCC counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN praying the court to grant leave that Bello should be served the charge via substituted means.The court ordered that the charge should be served on Bello at his known residence, No 4, Bengazi Street, Maitama, Abuja, through a public summons to be published in widely circulated national newspapers and also pasted within the premises of the court.(NAN)