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BORBDA Inaugurates 250 Hectares Integrated Farm In Auchi, Okpe

Published

4 years ago

November 25, 2021

The Benin Owena River Basin Development Authority (BORBDA) on Thursday inaugurated 250 hectares integrated farm (Songhai Model) in Auchi, Etsako-East Local Government Areaand Okpe and Uneme Nekhua both in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area of Edo.

The Songhai farm models were inaugurated alongside the area office of the basin in Auchi by the Otaru of Auchi, Alhaji Aliru Momoh.

The Managing Director of the BORBDA, Alhaji Saliu Ahmed, while delivering his address, noted that the integrated farms were established as part of effort to revamping the agricultural sector.

He said the farms would also provide employment opportunities for the unemployed youths, women and leverage on this to lift the people out ot poverty and ensure national food security.

He said that the farms, which were conceived in 2017, would serve as production, processing, service rendering and research based centres.

“The three farms in Auchi, Okpe and Uneme Nekhua are within 30km radius of one and another and together constitute a hub for effective production, processing and training.

“On 50 hectares of the 100 hectares of land each in Okpe and Uneme Nekhua, we planned to aggregate 50 youth farmers in each location with support of mechanisation and inputs to farm cassava and maize respectively.

“We also sourced and secured off-takers who would buy up their harvest when due. It is also planned that these farmers who shall be supported and continually trained shall form the nucleus to eventually take over the running and operations of the integrated farms, thus guaranteeing the sustainability of the farms.

“It is noteworthy that whereas the farmers aggregation plans took off successfully in Okpe for cassava, that in Uneme Nekhua for the growing of maize suffered communal challenges that made it impossible to take-off as planned this year,” he said.

He concluded by saying that the farms would uplift the economy of these communities and provide training outlets on the best agricultural practices for the local farmers.

Similarly, the Otaru of Auchi who inaugurated the BORBDA area office in Auchi, said it would serve as a catalyst to the development of the community and the entire Edo North Senatorial District.

He said the decision to provide the land for the farm and the office was part of Auchi community contribution to the development of the agricultural sector.

“I am indeed happy that lots of youths will be gainfully engaged through these farms and I am soliciting for more federal projects and institutions in the area,” he stated.

Headline

Serbia Indicts Ex-minister, 12 Others Over Train Station Tragedy

Published

11 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Serbian prosecutors filed an updated indictment on Tuesday against 13 people, including a former minister, over a fatal railway station roof collapse that has triggered a wave of anti-government protests.

The prosecution said all those indicted, among them former construction minister Goran Vesic, face charges of “serious crimes against public safety” over the tragedy that killed 16 people last November.

“The indictment proposes that the Higher Court in Novi Sad order custody for all the defendants,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The roof collapse at the newly renovated station in Serbia’s second-largest city, Novi Sad, became a symbol of entrenched corruption and sparked almost daily protests.

Protesters first demanded a transparent investigation, but their calls soon escalated into demands for early elections.

The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad initially filed an indictment at the end of December, but judges returned it in April, requesting more information.

The accused were released or placed under house arrest following the decision.

The prosecutor’s office said it had complied with the judge’s request and had now completed the supplementary investigation.

The prosecutor specialising in organised crime and corruption in Belgrade is leading a separate, independent investigation into the tragedy.

That investigation is focused on 13 people, including Vesic and another former minister, Tomislav Momirovic, who headed the Construction Ministry before him.

In March, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) launched a third, separate investigation into the possible misuse of EU funds for the station’s reconstruction.

AFP

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Kazakhstan Bans Forced Marriage, Bride Kidnapping

Published

11 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Kazakhstan has banned forced marriages and bride kidnappings through a law that came into effect Tuesday in the Central Asian country, where the practice persists despite new attention being paid to women’s rights.

Forcing someone to marry is now punishable by up to 10 years in prison, Kazakh police said in a statement.

“These changes are aimed at preventing forced marriages and protecting vulnerable categories of citizens, especially women and adolescents,” it added.

Bride kidnappings have also been outlawed.

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“Previously, a person who voluntarily released a kidnapped person could expect to be released from criminal liability. Now this possibility has been eliminated,” the police said.

There are no reliable statistics of forced marriage cases across the country, with no separate article in the criminal code prohibiting it until now.

A Kazakh lawmaker said earlier this year that the police had received 214 such complaints over the past three years.

The custom is also present in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, where it mostly goes unpunished due to indifferent law enforcement and stigma surrounding whistleblowers.

The issue of women’s rights in Kazakhstan gained media attention in 2023 following the murder of a woman by her husband, a former minister, a case that shocked Kazakh society and prompted President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to react.

“Some people hide behind so-called traditions and try to impose the practice of wife stealing. This blatant obscurantism cannot be justified,” Tokayev said last year.

AFP

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Russia Arrests Woman For Detonating Bomb On Railway

Published

12 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Russia’s FSB security service said on Tuesday it had arrested a woman in her fifties accused of detonating explosives in a bid to sabotage the Trans-Siberian Railway.

The suspect was allegedly working on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence, the FSB said, in the latest incident of alleged covert activity during the countries’ conflict.

“In August 2025, following the instructions provided by the adversary, the suspect manufactured a homemade explosive device from publicly available components, placed it on the railway tracks and triggered it,” the Russian agency said.

“She recorded the moment of the explosion on her mobile phone camera and sent the footage as a report to the handler to receive a reward.”

The statement did not name the suspect but said she was born in 1974 and carried out the alleged attack in eastern Siberia’s Zabaikalsky region.

The FSB warned Russians that it was monitoring social networks and online messenger services such as Telegram and WhatsApp for evidence of Ukrainian services recruiting Russians to carry out sabotage.

Separately, the agency told state news agency TASS that a man had been sentenced to 18 years and six months for transporting explosives on behalf of a “pro-Ukrainian” group.

A resident of the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, had, the FSB said, established contact through the Telegram app with a banned “terrorist organisation”.

He allegedly retrieved explosives from a cache on the orders of this group before waiting for “further instructions”, according to the same source cited by TASS.

He was jailed by a military tribunal.

AFP