NEWS
Kidnappers Use Poisonous Snakes to Terrorise Us – Victims
Abducted victims recently freed from captivity have revealed that kidnappers use poisonous snakes to terrorise them.
Some of them, who recounted their ordeals in separate interviews said that there were many snakes in the forests inhabitated by the bandits.
They said that the snakes often bite both the kidnappers and the victims.
One of them, who craved anonymity, said that kidnappers threw them into snake-infested spots.
“The kidnappers know the areas infested with snakes and would often throw the victims there.
“Immediately they see snakes, the fear-stricken victims will want to run away. The sight is used to frighten people.
“That is the time a victim can ask friends and family members to sell everything – house, land, cars, household items, shoes, just everything – to raise the ransom.
”Investigation revealed that the worst snake-infested forests are in Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State, and Kala-Balge, near Lake Chad, in Borno.
Other areas included Shaki in Oyo State, Borgu and Kagara in Niger, Karim Lamido in Adamawa, and Lau in Taraba.
Some of the victims said that the situation is worse now with the current heat as snakes leave their holes in search of fresh air and food.
“The nights are often more traumatising. You are left outside, in the dark, and a reptile may just creep through your legs.
“While I was in captivity, snakes bit some victims. The kidnappers were not spared as some of them also got bitten,” a victim, who was taken to a thick forest in Kagara, in Niger, told NAN.
According to him, in Kagara forest, the snakes are so common that the locals refer to them as “kadangarun Kagara (Kagara lizards).”
Prof. Abdulsalam Nasidi, Chairman, Echitap Study Group, the outfit in charge of Echitap Anti-Snake Venom(ASV), who spoke on the development, confirmed that banditry was associated with areas prone to snake bites.
Nasidi, whose group collaborates with Micropharm UK Ltd and Instituto Clodomiro Picardo (ICP), Costa Rica, to bring the drugs to Nigeria, decried the rising cases of snake bites in Nigeria.
“Unfortunately for us, the cost of snake bite treatment has gone well beyond the reach of the poor,” he said.
While confirming that some abductees indeed returned with snakebite wounds, he said that the cost of treatment could only be affordable if the ASV drugs were produced locally.
“The ASV manufacturers are ready to collaborate with us to produce the ASV in Nigeria.
“It is only when we produce ASV locally in Nigeria that we can make it available at a reduced cost.
“The rise in the value of the dollar has made the cost of foreign production so high that the poor man who, in most cases, is the victim of snake bites, cannot afford it.
“In the past, villagers used to contribute money to purchase ASV, that is no longer possible.
“An ample of the Echitap G ASV, which takes care of venoms from a carpet viper, costs 59 Pounds factory price. 97 per cent of poisonous snake bite cases in Nigeria are from carpet vipers.
“For Echitap plus ICP ASV, which treats venom from puff adder, carpet viper and black cobra, an ample is 24 dollars factory price.
“If you add the cost of transportation from the two countries – UK and Costa Rica – plus the charges for clearance at the ports, the price becomes a different thing.”
He identified the most poisonous snakes in Nigeria as carpet viper, puff adder and black cobra.
“But, we even have an equally dangerous snake – Black Mamba – in Abuja. So, we also need an ASV for it,” he said.
According to him, in the past, Nigerians bitten by snakes had 40 per cent chances of survival.
“But, if the black mamba is added, the chances shrink to 10 per cent. It means we desperately need to produce ASV locally,” he said.
On kidnappers deliberately exposing their victims to snakes, he pointed out that snakes do not know the difference between a kidnapper and his victim.
He lamented the prevalence of snake bites among poor Nigerians that were already hungry.
“If a snake bites a hungry person, his case is only pathetic as he is already economically traumatised without much hope.”
He particularly condemned the inhuman behaviour of exposing abductees to snake bites, and regretted the “zero” premium placed on human life.
“From the accounts of victims, kidnapped people could see a snake coming toward them and are not allowed to run. Nothing is more traumatising.”
Nasidi said that his group had submitted a proposal to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), for the local production of ASV.
“The proposal has been approved and we are waiting for the money to start up.
“The foreign manufacturers are ready to offer the technology. So, we are hopeful that we shall soon start local production of ASV,” he said.
Nasidi advised Nigerians to be careful while moving at night, noting that snakes were moving closer to human habitats.
“We must all be very watchful and observant. Treating snake bites is very expensive. So, prevention is better than any form of cure,” he said. (NAN)
Chief Bode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has urged President Bola Tinubu to reduce the price of petrol to N300 per litre ,to make things easy for Nigerians during the festive season.
George, the Atona Oodua of Yorubaland, made this plea at an interactive session with newsmen on Wednesday in Lagos.
The price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, is currently above N1,000 per litre.
According to the elder statesman,Nigerians are going through hardship, the President should give an order to reduce fuel price, specifying time frame the people will enjoy such window of relief.
He said that the federal government as well as well- meaning individuals and businesses could bear the cost of such price slash , to bring happiness to all Nigerians.
The PDP leader, who noted that December and January are special months , said that such gesture could start from the middle of December and run through January.
“I have been thinking, as a Nigerian, what can we do because the anger and the hunger are almost equal on the streets of Nigeria.
“What am I suggesting is that Mr President should sit down with his managers and give an order that from the middle of December to the end of January, the cost of petrol will be N300 per litre.
“The government can absorb the losses in the interest of the suffering people.
“If they (government) want others to contribute, let us know how much that is going to cost and ask people to donate, to bear the cost.
“We will be sending a lot of messages of happiness across the tribes and homes.
“Everybody in Nigeria will be happy because it will positively impact on this period of the year. It is a challenge and he (Tinubu) can do it.
“We need this in this December and January to put smiles on the faces of Nigerians, ” George, a PDP Board of Trustees (BOT) life member, said.
Advising the President to take further measures to bring relief to the people, he said that the gesture would crash prices of essential commodities and services for the benefit of all .
He said that government’s efforts should be concentrated on reducing high inflation rate, unemployment, poverty and youth restlessness in order to create a better future for Nigerians
Speaking on the recent presidential election in Ghana, George noted that Nigeria’s electoral system needed reforms to guard against electoral frauds and manipulations.
According to him, the nation will continue to grope for development if the system fails to encourage best candidates to emerge.
Stating that election must reflect the wishes of the people and be devoid of religious and tribal sentiments, George said that Ghana election should be a wake up call for Nigeria.
“INEC performance must improve. The commission must make sure that the voice of the people is heard in elections.
“Electoral offenders should be made to face the music and sent to jail. We must be very firm about due process, credibility and transparency in elections,” he said.
Urging the President to revisit resolutions in the 2014 Constitutional Conference, George said that the current constitution was not federal in principle and practice.
“We should not deceive ourselves, the constitution is a problem. It is a military constitution, it is not democratic,” he said.
George called on the National Assembly to ensure devolution of powers and electoral reforms that would do away with manual collation of election results and mandate electronic transmission of election results from polling units.
George disagreed with political watchers saying no vacancy in presidency in 2027.
On the dwindling strength of the former ruling party, George, who noted that all organisations had its ups and downs, said that selfish interests and disregard for party rules remained PDP’s major challenge.
He said that PDP could bounce back and win presidential election if the leadership decided to elevate national interest above selfish interests and adhere to the party’s constitution.
“We will tell ourselves some serious old truth. We messed ourselves up. ” he said.
Stating, however, that the PDP was not dead, George said that lack of justice, equity, fairness and the inability to adhere to the party’s zoning and rotational principle cost the party victory in 2023.
Calling on the party’s founding fathers alive to wake up and rescue the party, George said that Nigerians were still waiting for the former ruling party to take over power and put things right. (NAN)
President Bola Tinubu, is set to perform the groundbreaking of 2,000 housing units of the Renewed Hope City in Ibeju Lekki, Lagos, in the next few weeks.
Mr Ahmed Dangiwa, Minister of Housing and Urban Development, announced this during an official assessment visit, on Wednesday in Lagos
Dangiwa said Lagos would represent the South-west, while the president would do that of the North-West in Kano, before doing that of the four other regions.
“Arrangements is already on ground, we have gotten sites, and work has commenced for 2000 houses in the Renewed Hope City that we intend to build in Ibeju-Lekki,” he said.
Towards achieving the set goal, the minister said the visiting team also paid a courtesy visit to Gov.
Babajide Sanwo-Olu to discuss area of collaboration between the federal and state governments.He disclosed that the federal and Lagos state governments had agreed to set up a Tripartite committee and ensure all the issues of concerns between the parties were resolved amicably for the benefit of all.
Earlier, the Minister embarked on an assessment visit of deplorable Federal Government buildings and assets across Lagos state in a bid to commence rehabilitation on them in a few months.
Dangiwa said the rehabilitation was necessary as the deplorable buildings posed a challenge and security concerns to the Lagos state government. (NAN)
Gov. Hyacinth Alia on Wednesday presented the sum of N550.1bn as the 2025 appropriation bill to the Benue State House of Assembly for consideration and passage into law.
Alia told the lawmakers that out of the total budget size, N175.4 billion is for recurrent expenditure while the N374.
7 billion is for capital expenditure.The governor said that the total estimate represented a 47.
5 per cent increment over the 2024 revised and approved figure of N373 billion.He stated that the appropriation bill tagged “Budget of Human Capital Development, Food Security, and Digital Economy” was to consolidate the gains made in 2024.
Alia further explained that the proposed recurrent expenditure of N175.
4 billion was 13.55 per cent higher than the previous year.According to him, budgeted capital expenditure of N374.7 billion represents a 71.5 per cent increment on the 2024 revised capital expenditure.
“The budget breakdown indicated that the sum of N212.2 billion, representing 38.52 per cent is for administration; N196.6 billion, representing 35.68 per cent is for the economy; law and justice will take N26.6 billion, representing 4.84 per cent while social welfare will gulp N115.5 billion, representing 20.96 per cent.
“We have the vision. We have the will. And most importantly, we have the people ready to work alongside us to turn this vision into reality.
“Together, we will build a state where every citizen has the opportunity to succeed, where food is plentiful, and where the digital economy opens new frontiers of opportunity for all,” he said.
The governor said the intention of the government was to stay within the limits of its recurring revenue to build the state without accruing unnecessary debts for generations unborn.
He, however, said that since the 2025 budget was a deficit one, it proposed a borrowing plan of a conservative sum of N26bn, representing a modest 4.7 per cent of the proposed aggregate expenditure for 2025.
“This is lower than the state’s debt-to-GDP ratio of 8.2 per cent which is within the benchmark of the 25 per cent debt sustainability threshold.
“Despite these favourable debt ratios, I want to reiterate that borrowing will only be considered as a last resort and for regenerative investment purposes,” he added.
Alia stated that the problem of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) remained a challenge, adding that they have reasonably improved their living conditions.
He said the Bureau of International Cooperation and Development has elicited substantial grants from donors, totalling N85bn. (NAN)
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