News
Insecurity: Arase Urges Police To Activate Platform For Tracking Criminals
The Chairman, Police Service Commission (PSC), Dr Solomon Arase has called on the Nigeria Police to activate its platform for tracking kidnappers and other criminals, using mobile phones to demand for ransom.
Arase made the call while addressing personnel of the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCC) during his working visit to the centre, yesterday in Abuja.
He said it was a shame for a country to have people demanding for ransom with phone without making them to face the consequences of crime.
The chairman said the platform, used during his tenure as the Inspector- General of Police (I-G) in 2015, was still available with the Nigeria Police and called for its activation.
‘We established the platform about eight years ago, I understand that they have not been paying the subscription.
“If you have a platform, you must subscribe to it on a yearly basis, there should be budgetary provision for such subscription.
“Once we are able to subscribe to it, it will be potent and I expect to see that soon. During my time as I-G, you cannot touch your phone to ask for ransom without being caught,” he said.
He said he used the platform during his tenure to secure the release of Chief Olu Falaye when he was kidnapped in his farm in Ondo State.
Arase said the kidnappers started negotiation within a space of three hours after the kidnap, demanding for N5 million ransom.
According to him, they got the money, treated it and gave it to the negotiators who dropped it in Suleja Junction in Abuja.
He said the kidnappers removed the SIM card from the phone immediately they picked up the money.
“With the platform in my office, I could see the location of the kidnappers.
“The Intelligence Response Team (IRT) personnel were already around the area but I requested that, they follow the criminals without arresting them because I wanted to know their destination.
“With the platform, we discovered they were moving towards Minna, so I had called our personnel in Minna to create an artificial road block after giving them the description of their vehicle.
“When they were finally intercepted, the driver was told to come down and open his boot where the ransom collected was kept,” he said.
In his remark, Mr Uche Ifeanyi, the Director of the centre said NPF-NCC had recorded tremendous successes in its fight against cybercrime.
Ifeanyi said the invitation of Arase to the centre was to tap from his wealth of experience in delivering effective policing in the country, especially in the area of intelligence.
He said the activities of the centre were intelligence-based especially in its investigation.
“We don’t just go out to arrest suspects, we do our profiling, look at fact, figures and available evidences before making arrest.
“The motive of cyber criminals is to make money, so what we do is to work with banks and other financial institutions to get information of their financial flows.
“After that, we do our profiling before going after the suspects and once we get the suspects, it means we are ready for prosecution,” he said.
Nigerians may experience an increase in the prices of premium energy products diesel and petrol as the Dangote Petroleum Refinery temporarily halts the sale of petroleum products in Naira.
“This decision is necessary to avoid a mismatch between our sales proceeds and our crude oil purchase obligations, which are currently denominated in US dollars,” the company said in a statement yesterday.
The $20billion refinery based in Lagos said the sales of its products in Naira have exceeded the value of Naira-denominated crude it has received from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
“As a result, we must temporarily adjust our sales currency to align with our crude procurement currency,” the company explained.
The refinery said it remained committed to serving the Nigerian market and would resume the sale of its product to the local market in Naira as soon as it received crude cargoes from the NNPCL in Naira.
“As soon as we receive an allocation of Naira-denominated crude cargoes from NNPC, we will promptly resume petroleum product sales in Naira,” it said.
The announcement by the refinery comes amid its price war with the NNPCL.
As part of moves to reduce the strain on the US dollars, and guarantee price stability of petroleum products, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in July 2024, directed the NNPCL to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery and other local refineries in naira and not in United States’ greenback.
In the beginning of March 2025, the NNPCL said its Naira-denominated crude sales agreement with the Dangote Refinery was structured for six months with March 2025 as the expiration date.
The state company, however, said that talks were on to replace the contract, and that over 48 million barrels of crude oil have been made available to Dangote Refinery since October 2024 under the Naira-denominated arrangement.
The NNPCL also said it had made over 84 million barrels of crude oil available to the private refinery since it commenced operations in 2023.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, faces energy challenges, with all its state-owned refineries non-operational for decades until 2024. The country was heavily reliant on imported refined petroleum products, with the state-run NNPCL being the major importer of the essential commodities.
Fuel queues are commonplace in the country. Prices of petrol more than quadrupled since the removal of subsidy in May 2023 by President Bola Tinubu, from around ¦ 200/litre to about ¦ 1,000/litre, compounding the woes of the citizens who power their vehicles, and generating sets with petrol, no thanks to decades-long epileptic electricity supply.
Last December, the billionaire industrialist commenced operations at the facility situated in Lagos with 350,000 barrels a day. The refinery, which was initially bogged by regulatory battles, hopes to achieve its full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day by the end of the year. The refinery has begun the supply of diesel and aviation fuel to marketers in the country and now petrol.
Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has overtaken Egypt’s Omar Assar to become Africa’s highest-ranked player in the world, now sitting at 18th in the week 12 ranking released on Tuesday.
Aruna moved up from 19th place in week 11 to 18th in the latest ranking, while Assar dropped from 17th to 19th.
Denmark’s Jonathan Groth took over Assar’s 17th place, moving up from 18th.
Despite finishing as runner-up at the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup, Aruna’s impressive performances at the WTT tournaments this year have boosted his ranking.
Aruna remains the only African male player to have reached the semi-finals of the WTT Contender Doha, repeating his 2023 feat earlier this year in January.
This achievement has propelled him ahead of Assar, who beat him to become the champion of the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup.
Aruna’s next tournament is the WTT Contender Chennai which serves off in India from March 23 to 20.
In the women’s singles, Egypt’s Hana Goda maintained her top spot in Africa, moving up one place to 26th in the week 12 ITTF ranking. Her compatriot, Dina Meshref, remained static at 33rd, holding her position as the second-best-ranked female player in Africa.
China’s Wang Chuqin retained his position as the second-best player globally, behind his compatriot Lin Shidong, who continues to hold the top spot. Japanese superstar Tomokazu Harimoto dethroned China’s Liang Jingkun as the third-best player in the world after his semifinal finish in Chongqing.
In the women’s ranking, the top five remained unchanged, with China’s Sun Yingsha holding onto her top spot after retaining her WTT Champions Chongqing title.
-
Rivers3 days ago
NAFDAC’s Greenbook App’ll Curb Fake Drugs, Substandard Products’
-
World3 days ago
W/Cup Qualifiers: Eswatini Hold Cameroon To Shock Draw
-
News3 days ago
NSPRI Empowers Agri-preneurs For Independence, Postharvest Loss Reduction
-
Entertainment3 days ago
Late Mohbad’s Brother, Adura Arrested
-
Featured3 days agoN77,000 allowance to commence in March – NYSC D-G
-
Politics3 days ago
Rivers Elders Speak Against Emergency Rule
-
Rivers3 days ago
Host Communities Urged to Take Ownership of Development Trust Fund
-
World3 days ago
Zimbabwean Elected First Female IOC President