NEWS
Agge Survival Day: A Celebration of Resilience – Commissioner
From Mike Tayese, Yenagoa
Bayelsa State Commissioner for Tourism Development, John Alla has described ‘Agge Survival Day’ as an event that marks the resilience of the Agge people after the community was invaded by the Nigerian Army and inflicted untold hardship and pains on the people.
He reiterated that the event marks an end to difficult times and the start of a new chapter in Agge after the military invasion.
Speaking with newsmen at Agge community after participating in this year’s edition of the Agge Survival Day event as a special guest on Sunday, Alla said the survival day celebration was significant because it acts as a morale booster to the people, recognizing the collective resilience of the people, which also strengthens community bonds.
“The Agge Survival Day annual celebration fosters our gratitude to God, encouraging us to continuously show our deep appreciation for overcoming the challenges and to remind us of the blessings of God. It promotes storytelling and reminds us about our past history and the survivors from the military invasion, sharing stories of our struggles and triumphs. It brings the people of the community together, promoting social connections and a sense of belonging.
“Celebrating the resilience of our people helps to process and cope with our challenges, fostering community pride. It helps us to celebrate our collective achievements, enhancing our community identity and pride”.
“The survival day celebration also encourages us as people to observe annual thanksgiving and appreciation, focusing on the positive aspects of the community’s journey after the military invasion”.
“The survival day event strengthens the Agge spirit in us as it reinforces the idea that the community is stronger together, creating lasting memories, helping us to develop a sense of shared experience and communal memory. By hosting the survival day event, we are able to bring our community together to celebrate our resilience and promote unity and gratitude to God,” Hon. Alla maintained.
Highpoints of the celebration were live traditional music performances by indigenous artistes, colourful masquerade displays, dance, and dining at different points across the community to express gratitude to God.
NEWS
Customs Intercept Contraband Worth N510.92m in Two Conths
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)NEWS
APC Forum Decries Deplorable Condition of Federal Roads
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. (NANNEWS
Yuan Strengthens 7. 087 Against Dollar
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)