Robbi's Blog

In spite of the controversy over the N60 billion Lagos-Calabar coastal rail project, the Nigerian Senate has vowed not to revisit the 2016 budget. The Senate, on Tuesday, advised President Muhammadu Buhari to draft a detailed supplementary budget capturing the project and submit it for consideration. This decision was arrived at, during a closed-door session of the Senate, during plenary. Speaking with journalists after the meeting, Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Abdullahi Sabi, said the Senate resolved that the President should assent to the budget as passed and subsequently include things left out in the main budget in a supplementary budget. He maintained that the project was not included in the budget sent to the National Assembly while stating that the matter was far from controversial. “I know very well that the last one week has been full of the language you guys have already crafted ‘controversy’, even though for us, there is no...

The herdsmen invaded four villages in the Gashaka Local Government Area of the state and caused many villagers to flee. 15 people have been confirmed dead in Taraba State after attacks by Fulani herdsmen. The herdsmen invaded four villages in the Gashaka Local Government Area of the state and caused many villagers to flee. The casualty figure was given by Taraba State Police Commissioner, Shaba Alkali on Tuesday, April 12, 2016. “A group of people numbering about twenty, suspected to be Fulani herdsmen, invaded and attacked Dori and Mesuma villages via Garbabi ward, Gashaka LGA, and burnt some thatch-houses, forcing the villagers to flee into the villages of Mayo-Selbe and Sabon Gida for safety,” Alkali said according to Daily Post. “Eight people were killed in Dori village while seven were also killed in Mesuma. My detectives are around Bali area to make sure that those that...

British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright made the comment while receiving members of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group at the UK Embassy in Abuja. The British government has not forgotten the abducted Chibok Girls , the High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright has said. Arkwright made the comment while receiving members of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group at the UK Embassy in Abuja. “My heart goes to the parents of the abducted girls. Two years is too long for the families to be suffering. The UK, the British government have not abandoned the Chibok girls,” he said. “What I can say is that we are doing everything we can, including in the area of intelligence in their effort with the Nigerian government to rescue the girls. Two years on, that is not an easy tasks but what we are doing and we will continue to do is to work with Nigerian government to help to find and locate the girls. “We will look for other ways we can provide them h...

Human rights organization, Amnesty International (AI) has urged the Nigerian military to confess its role in the December 2015 massacre of Shiite Muslims after the Kaduna State Government revealed that 347 corpses were buried in a mass grave after a battle between the army and the group in Zaria. AI made the call on Tuesday, April 12, 2016, through its Country Director in Nigeria, M.K. Ibrahim . “The horrific revelation by the Kaduna State government that hundreds of Shi’ites were gunned down and dumped in mass graves is an important first step to bringing all those suspected of criminal responsibility for this atrocity to trial,” Ibrahim said. “It is now imperative that the mass grave sites are protected in order that a full independent forensic investigation can begin. The bodies must be exhumed and Nigerian authorities should immediately reveal the whereabouts of those held in unacknowledged detention and either charge or release them,” he added. Details o...

The Nigerian Airforce (NAF) said its Fighter Aircraft had struck insurgents’ logistics base at Kangarawa in Northern part of Borno. This is contained in a statement issued by its Director of Public Relations and Information, Group Capt. Ayodele Famuyiwa , in Abuja. “The NAF, in continuation of its employment of airpower to decimate the capability of the insurgents, has successfully taken off another logistics belonging to the insurgents. The latest air strike was carried out on April 11 by NAF F7-NI Fighter Aircraft against the insurgents,” it said. According to the statement, the scale of accompanying inferno and multi explosions as can be seen from the footage of the air strike, suggests that the location possibly houses fuel or ammunition. It said that the strike constituted another major setback for the insurgents, while providing tangible evidence of many of the recent successes recorded by the Air component of Operation Lafia Dole.

According to the state government, Sokoto has signed a memorandum of understanding with Henan Province of China for the establishment of a demonstration farm and boosting of agriculture in the state. Sokoto has become one of the beneficiaries of the 100 agricultural projects to be sited in developing countries which was announced by the Chinese President, Ji Xinping during the South-South Cooperation meeting held in September 2015. It would involve the application of new technology for cultivation of crops such as corn, wheat, tomatoes and onions, it was gathered. In a statement issued from China by Imam Imam , the spokesman to Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal , said the agreement also provides room for experts from Sokoto and Henan Province to carry out joint analysis and study of climatic conditions, soil moisture status, crop cultivation techniques and plant protection and quarantine. " This will also promote lease investment and promotion of agricul...

Abrini is also wanted in connection with November's attacks in Paris, which killed 130 people. Belgium has charged a further two men with terrorist offences over alleged links with the rental of a property thought to have been used as a safe house ahead of the Brussels attacks, federal prosecutors said on Tuesday. Four other suspects were picked up on Friday, including Mohamed Abrini , who investigators say has confessed to depositing a bomb at Brussels airport, and Osama Krayem , suspected of buying bags used by the bombers. Abrini is also wanted in connection with November's attacks in Paris , which killed 130 people. The March 22 attacks in Brussels killed 32. Prosecutors identified the two men, who were charged on Monday, only as Smail F., born in 1984, and Ibrahim F., born in 1988. They did not say when the two were detained. Under Belgian law, suspects usually need to appear before an examining judge within 24 hours. " They are charged w...