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Senate Probes 26 Nigerian Women’s Death
The Senate has launched an investigation into circumstances surrounding the death of 26 Nigerian girls whose bodies were found on a Spanish warship.
Following a motion sponsored by Senator Rose Oko, the Senate, yesterday, mandated three committees to investigate the incident.
Bodies of the girls, mostly teenagers aged 14-18, and believed to have been sexually abused and murdered, were recovered at sea, BBC reported, last Monday.
Their bodies were discovered in a Spanish warship, Cantabria, carrying 375 migrants.
Italian media reported that the bodies were being kept in a refrigerated section of the warship.
Most of the 375 survivors brought to Salerno, among which were 90 women, eight of them pregnant, 52 children, were sub-Saharan Africans from Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, The Gambia and Sudan.
Five migrants are being questioned in the southern port of Salerno following an investigation launched by Italian prosecutors, last Monday.
Oko said emergency measures must be used to address the situation.
“The Senate is worried that this mass exodus of our children from the relative safety and security of home to the often cold hands of death have arisen and are increasing as a result of the economic hardships at home including the unemployment situation in Nigeria,” she said.
“The Senate strongly believes that it is time to go beyond the mere feeling of horror to taking pro-active, urgent and emergency measures to address the root causes of the exodus, including massive enlightenment on the dangers that it portends.”
Also speaking, Senator Shehu Sani, Kaduna-APC, said the incident was a “national tragedy” that must urgently be attended to.
“The death of 26 Nigerians in the Mediterranean Sea is a national tragedy. It is unfortunate that year in, year out, thousands of Africans, Nigerians perish in the Mediterranean on the way to Europe in search for what they call greener pasture,” he said.
“It is equally worrying that every month, hundreds of Nigerians are brought back to this country after failed attempts to cross the Mediterranean Sea and there are factors to this irregular migration. The push factors have to do with the issue of poverty, economic instability and also the pull factor has to do with the unrealisable dreams and illusions and also components that have to do with drug trafficking, terrorism and sexual abuse.”
Similarly, Senator Sam Egwu, Ebonyi-PDP, called on the federal and state governments to declare a state of emergency on unemployment to curb re-occurrence of the tragic incident.
“The issue of unemployment has been a recurrent decimal and has been a source of worry and the implication is a source of worry to all of us,” he said.
“Year in, year out, we turn out graduates that have no job to do after their NYSC and enabling environment is not even there to start their businesses. I think the Federal and State governments should declare state of emergency on unemployment and do something tangible.”
The Senate, in its resolution mandated its committees on Diaspora, Foreign Affairs and Special Duties, to investigate the incident and report back within four weeks and thereafter observed a minute silence for the repose of the souls of the girls.
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I’m Committed To Community Dev – Ajinwo
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RSG Tasks Rural Dwellers On RAAMP …As Sensitization Team Visits Akulga, Degema, Three Others

Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
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Senate Replaces Natasha As Committee Chairman

The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.
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