News

29,828 Killed, 15,404 Abducted In Three Years – Report

Published

2 years ago

January 13, 2024

No fewer than 29,828 people were killed while 15,430 were kidnapped across the country between January 2021 and December 2023.

Also, a total of 14,145 attacks occurred across 736 local government areas out of 774 LGs of the country.

This is according to the 2023 Nigeria Security Report by an Abuja-based security risk management and intelligence company, Beacon Consulting.

According to the report obtained by Saturday PUNCH, in 2021, 8,372 people killed and 5,031 were abducted.

Also, in 2022, 11,714 people were killed, and 6,319 abducted, while in 2023, 9,742 were killed, and 4,080 were abducted.

Speaking with The PUNCH correspondent, the Chief Executive Officer, Beacon Consulting, Dr Kabir Adamu, faulted current Nigeria’s security architecture, saying the leadership had failed in implementing a crucial part of the architecture.

He also stated the security sector lacked operational, financial, and democratic accountability, a development he said, had made it difficult to attain the desired success.

He said, “The security architecture at the moment is not accountable. This is a carryover from the previous administration. Critical national consequences occur and nobody within the security architecture is held accountable.

“We look at accountability in two ways; operational accountability where failures lead to the loss of assets like lives and others. The other is financial accountability.

“The security sector is the sector with the highest budgetary provisions and I think I won’t be wrong if I say that the sector is not giving us value for money.

“This year alone, according to my firm, over 8,000 people have been killed. So, there is no accountability within the sector. There is also the absence of democratic accountability.

“Outside what has happened in Plateau State, in Zamfara State, as of January 4, at least four local government areas have almost been completely taken over by these bandits.”

He maintained that the Federal Government must strength institutional capacity within the current architecture, saying, “We are not following the provision of the security architecture.”

According to him, part of the architecture that the Federal Government has failed is the convening of the National Security Council meeting which the President Bola Tinubu-led government has not held since it resumed office on May 29, 2023.

“There are certain aspects of the architecture that are not been complied with. For instance, when was the last time that the Federal Government held the National Security Council meeting? In other countries, and by the provision of our law, after the recent incident, the Council should have been convened.

“How many of our citizens have been killed? That Council has not sat, likewise the National Defence Council, and National Police Council aside from after the present IGP was appointed. Another aspect of that architecture is the need for an ombudsman to monitor certain things within the security sector.

“The constitutional provision for the appointment of an ombudsman for example is the intelligence community. Till today, we don’t have an ombudsman in the intelligence community.”
PUNCH

News

FG Shuts 22 Illegal Tertiary Institutions

Published

5 hours ago

August 25, 2025

Editor

The National Commission for Colleges of Education has uncovered and shut down 22 illegal Colleges of Education.

The discovery was made during a crackdown on illegal colleges of education in the country.

The development was revealed in the commission’s achievements, seen by our correspondent.

“The NCCE identified and shut down 22 illegal Colleges of Education operating across the country.

“The NCCE conducted personnel audit, financial monitoring in all the 21 federal colleges of education,” the commission said.

President Bola Tinubu had recently urged the National Universities Commission, the National Board for Technical Education and the National Commission for Colleges of Education to weed out illegal higher institutions of learning in the country.

Speaking at the 14th convocation of the National Open University of Nigeria in Abuja, the President ordered the NUC, the NBTE, and other agencies to take decisive action against what he described as “certificate millers” undermining the credibility of the education sector.

Tinubu, who was represented by the Director of University Education at the Federal Ministry of Education, Rakiya Ilyasu, warned that the integrity of the academic system must not be compromised.

“At this juncture, it has become imperative to reiterate that this administration remains committed to strengthening the integration of all agencies involved in the administration of education to enhance efficiency and quality,” the President said.

He added, “The National Youth Service Corps, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, the National Universities Commission, the National Board for Technical Education and the National Commission for Colleges of Education are working in alignment to improve the quality of education and ensure that cases of forgery and unrecognised institutions both within and outside the country have no place in our education ecosystem.”

News

EFCC Orders Arrest Of Dismissed Officer On Lege Miami’s Show

Published

7 hours ago

August 25, 2025

Editor

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has condemned the actions of one of its former staff, Olakunle Alex Folarin, who was recently spotted participating in a matchmaking programme on social media platforms hosted by popular entertainer Lege Miami.

The agency has ordered his immediate arrest for retaining official EFCC property, including an identity card, following his dismissal for certificate forgery.

The anti-graft agency, in a statement on its official X handle on Monday, said Folarin served as a driver at the EFCC’s Ibadan Zonal Directorate.

He was, however, dismissed after investigations confirmed he had forged his academic credentials.

It said, “The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, condemned in the strongest terms, the involvement of one of its former staff, Olakunle Alex Folarin, in a matchmaking programme running on Lege Miami social media platforms.”

“Folarin was recently dismissed from the Commission for certificate forgery. He was a driver at the Ibadan Zonal Directorate of the EFCC.”

The statement said EFCC Executive Chairma,n Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has ordered Folarin to be arrested and emphasised that Folarin’s actions should not be associated with the commission.

“The Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has ordered his arrest for being in possession of some Commission’s properties, including an identity card, which he should have handed over upon being dismissed from the EFCC.

“The public is advised against associating Folarin’s post-dismissal conduct with the EFCC,” the statement concluded.

News

NERC Transfers Regulation Of Electricity Market To Bayelsa

Published

7 hours ago

August 25, 2025

Editor

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has transferred regulatory oversight of the electricity market in Bayelsa State to the Bayelsa Electricity Regulatory Agency.

In a notice on its social media handles on Monday, the commission said this was in compliance with the amended 1999 Constitution and the Electricity Act 2023.

“In compliance with the amended Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Electricity Act 2023 (Amended), the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has issued an order to transfer regulatory oversight of the electricity market in Bayelsa State from the Commission to the Bayelsa State Electricity Regulatory Agency,” the commission said.

Recall that with the Electricity Act 2023, the commission retains the role as a central regulator with regulatory oversight on the interstate/international generation, transmission, supply, trading, and system operations.

The Act also mandates any state that intends to establish and regulate intrastate electricity markets to deliver a formal notification of its processes and requests NERC to transfer regulatory authority over electricity operations in the state to the state regulator.

The transfer order by NERC directed Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company Plc to incorporate a subsidiary distribution company to assume responsibilities for intrastate supply and distribution of electricity in Bayelsa State from PHED.

PHED was also directed to complete the incorporation of PHED SubCo within 60 days from August 21, 2025.

“The subcompany shall apply for and obtain a licence for the intrastate supply and distribution of electricity from BYERA, among other directives,” the commission said.

It concluded that all transfers envisaged by the order shall be completed by February 20, 2026.

With this order, Bayelsa has joined states like Lagos, Imo, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, Enugu, Niger, Edo, Oyo and Plateau, which have got the power to regulate electricity markets.

The state can now generate, transmit, and distribute electricity while issuing licences to investors within the value chain.