NEWS
Fear Grips Nasarawa as Gunmen Kidnap 10 FULafia Students
From Joseph Hans Apuu, Lafia
Ten students of the Federal University of Lafia were on Thursday night kidnapped by bandits suspected to be herders.
Eye witnesses, who preferred anonymity, told DAILY ASSET that the gunmen invaded Gandu, a student’s community opposite the permanent site of the university at about 2 am Thursday, shooting sporadically, forcing students out of their residence.
An eye witness testified that the operation took about two hours uninterrupted.
Confirming the incident, the Public Relations Officer of the university, Abubakar Ibrahim, said that at the moment the total number of students abducted was yet to be ascertained, but gave an approximate number between three to five students.
“It is too early to ascertain the exact number of students because those affected are not living within the school but off campus.
“From available information, the number of students abducted was between three to five, however the university is working hard to ensure that all students live within the school campus”, the PRO said.
Meanwhile, students of the university have embarked on peaceful protest demanding an end to incessant kidnapping of students in the university.
Frequent abduction of students has become a regular incident in the institution as students now live in constant fear.
More than 15 students of the university had been kidnapped this semester with huge ransoms paid amidst a harsh economy.
One of the relatives of a kidnapped student, who spoke to our reporter in Lafia, lamented that he was once kidnapped by the gunmen one of the evenings and trekked throughout the night in the bush till day break.
According to him, “we were five of us, a lady included. The gunmen beat and threatened us and kept us walking and running at some point all through the night.
“They later collected N500, 000 from my parents and released me. I don’t know what happened to the rest because they could not afford to pay.
When contacted, the police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Nasarawa state command, Ramhan Nansel said “This kidnapping, details are sketchy.
The command has tried to get facts and identity of the victims but to no avail thus, we are finding it difficult to authenticate”; he said.
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit Zone C, says it intercepted contrabands with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N510.92 million between July 15th and September 15th, 2024.The zone covers the six states in the South-South geopolitical zone and the five states in the Southeast geopolitical zone.
This is contained in a statement signed by Jerry Attah, Public Relations Officer, NCS, Zone C, and made available to journalists on Wednesday. According to the statement, Comptroller Michael Ugbagu, NCS, Zone C, gave the statistics while showcasing the seized contraband to relevant regulatory agencies at the Government Warehouse in Edo.Ugbagu said that the zone also recovered the sum of N25.57 million from demand notices raised based on some infractions noticed, making a cumulative sum of N536.49 million recorded within the months under review.“The DPV was derived from our seized goods, which include 49,699 sachets of various brands of tramadol and 3,350 bottles of various cough syrups with codeine without an NAFDAC number.“1,015 sacks of dry donkey meat and skin, 75 jumbo bales of second-hand clothing, 463 cartons of foreign spaghetti, 269 pieces of used pneumatic tires, and 56 cartons of smuggled foreign tomato paste.“More worrisome is the interception of 49,699 sachets of various brands of tramadol and 3,350 bottles of various cough syrups with codeine without NAFDAC registration numbers.”He noted that the cough syrup with codeine and tramadol without NAFDAC registration numbers, if not intercepted, could have had adverse effects on youths.He added that the items were mostly intercepted along the Ewu-Okada/Benin expressways based on credible intelligence. (NAN)
The Forum of Stakeholders of the All Progressive Congress (APC) has decried the deplorable condition of some federal roads in Nigeria. Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga, the North-Central Chairman of the forum, said this in an interaction with newsmen on Wednesday in Jos. Zazzaga described some of the federal roads as ”death traps”, particularly those within the north-central region.
He said that some of the deplorable roads in the region include Jos-Akwanga, Makurdi-Oturkpo-Otukpa, Makurdi-Ankpa, and Jos-Saminaka. Other roads that needed urgent attention, he said, included Suleja-Minna, Ejule-Otukpa, Ganawuri-Manchok, Lokoja-Abuja, Lapai-Agaie-Bida, Birnin-Gwari-Bokani-Mokwa, Minna-Zungeru-Tegina-Kontagora. ”Currently, the north-central region has the most deplorable roads and highways in the country. ”These deplorable roads have brought severe hardship on the people and lost lives and property through preventable road traffic crashes. ”We call on President Bola Tinubu to intervene and ensure the rehabilitation of these roads because good roads are vital enablers of development,” he said. The chairman also called on governors of states within the region to reconstruct the dilapidated roads and seek refunds from the federal government. ”Though these are largely federal roads, they are located within states, and the beneficiaries are the people of these states. ”So we call on state governments to reconstruct these roads and seek refunds from the federal government,” he added. (NAN
The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 160 pips to 7.087 against the dollar on Wednesday.This is according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.In China’s spot foreigners exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by two per cent from the central parity rate each trading day.
The central parity rate of the yuan against the dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day. (Xinhua/NAN)
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