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FG To Earn N180bn From Fire, Cassava Investments – ICRC

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The Federal Government will earn N180 billion revenue in 15 years from a N15.4 billion investment in cassava and fire detection technology.

The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission announced this in a statement on Saturday.

According to ICRC, the revenue which will be generated from the concession of a Cassava Bio-mass, Bio-ethanol Value Chain and the National Fire Detection and Alarm System is estimated to generate N180 billion.

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The statement noted that the NAFDAS project will generate a total of N75 billion in the 15-year concession period, while Cassava Bio-ethanol Value Chain will generate a total revenue of N105 billion within a five-year concession period.

It read, “The Cassava Bio-Ethanol Value Chain will be done on a pilot phase with the aim of building “a Bio-technology Industrial Park on a 20-hectare plot across 20 Universities, Academia and Research and Development Institutes. In the pilot phase, 5,000 special hybrid cassava (TME 419) stems will be planted per hectare, (100,000 stems for 20 hectares).

READ ALSO: Groups Plan Protest Over Ararume’s Reinstatement As NNPCL Chair

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“It is projected that Cassava production will double from the current 62 million tons to output of over 120 million tons with improved tropical agro-ecology, bio-technology, intense mechanisation and effective partnership resource mobilisation in five years

“The key goal of this cassava – Bioethanol pilot project is to demonstrate the efficacy of a private sector led approach in promoting investment in renewable biomass and create wealth, provide jobs, reduce poverty, improve food security and nutrition, provide renewable energy and reduce carbon footprint” the ICRC said.

It added that the project will be financed with a grant from the federal government and concessionaire investment totalling N11.9billion.

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According to The PUNCH, the revenue stream presented by the project includes sales of cassava stem, cassava flour, garri, starch and Bio-ethanol.

READ ALSO: Joy As FG Begins Payment Of 40% Salary Rise Arrears

Also, the NAFDAS project is to provide fire mitigation hardware, software and equipment that will be linked to a cloud network which will be supervised by the Federal Fire Service through a Private entity.

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According to the ICRC, “Through the use of this technology, call and response time in fire incidents will be automated thus drastically reduced, avoidable incidents forestalled, more life and property saved and generally improve the efficiency in fire prevention, detection and management”.

“This means that smoke alarms and other fire detection hardware will be linked to a server which will alert the system when the user is in distress without them having to call for help.

“The project will begin on a pilot scale with seven states of the federation before rolling out to all other states across the country.”

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READ ALSO: My Properties Abroad Not Acquired With Public Funds – Festus Keyamo

“The total projected cost for the project is put at N3.5 billion whereas government targets a revenue generation of N75 billion within the 15-year period of the concession.

“The revenue stream presented by the project includes margin on installations and annual subscription fee from users of the service.

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“Revenue from both projects will be shared between the federal government and the concessionaire at a ratio decided in the concession agreement,” it stated.

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Tanzania Protesters Loot Singer Juma Jux Fashion Store

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Tanzanian protesters have reportedly looted singer Juma Jux’s fashion store.

Unrest erupted on Thursday after a disputed general election marked by disqualification and detention of the key opposition figures in Tanzania.

The protesters are demanding cancellation of the election results, alleging irregularities in the country’s presidential election.

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READ ALSO:Police Rescue Suspected Phone Thief From Being Lynched In Delta

Amid the development, a controversial post by an X user Bolaji Fesomade alleged that the singer store valued at $780 million has been set ablaze by protesters.

Reacting to the report, Juma Jux’s wife, Priscilla Ojo on her Snapchat account, dismissed the claims, noting that the store was looted and not burnt.

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She simply wrote; “Looted not Burnt”.

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12 Feared Dead In Kenya Light Aircraft Crash

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A small plane travelling from Kenya’s coast crashed on Tuesday, according to the country’s aviation authority, with the 12 people on board feared dead.

The small plane was en route to Kichwa Tembo — a private airstrip located in the Maasai Mara National Park — from the tourist hotspot of Diani when it came down at around 5:30am local time (0230 GMT).

“The aircraft had 12 persons on board,” a statement from the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) said.

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It gave no further details, but said that government agencies were already on site to establish the cause of the accident.

READ ALSO:Putin Admits Russia Caused Azerbaijani Plane Crash

The Guardian reports that plane crashes are fairly common in Kenya in the last 18 months. On March 5, 2024, a mid-air collision between a Safarilink Aviation commercial flight and a 99 Flying School training aircraft occurred over the Nairobi National Park, resulting in two fatalities.

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The incident took place shortly after both aircraft had departed Wilson Airport. The collision involved Safarilink Aviation Flight 053, a De Havilland Canada Dash 8 carrying 39 passengers and five crew members, and a 99 Flying School Cessna 172M.

AMREF Aircraft Crash

In August, a light aircraft belonging to the AMREF Flying Doctors crashed into a residential area in Mwihoko, Ruiru, Kiambu County, killing six people and injuring at least two others.

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The aircraft, a Cessna Citation XLS (registration 5Y-FDM), had taken off from Wilson Airport and was en route to Hargeisa, Somalia, when it went down under unclear circumstances.

READ ALSO:Fire On Board Forces Lagos-Atlanta-bound Aircraft Diversion To Ghana

AMREF Flying Doctors CEO Stephen Gitau issued a statement confirming the incident. Mr Gitau noted that the aircraft departed Wilson Airport at 2.17 PM before crashing in Mwihoko. He stated that the organisation is “cooperating fully with relevant aviation authorities and emergency response teams to establish the facts surrounding the situation.”

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Foreign Couple Killed in Kenyan Plane Crash, Earlier in January, a light aircraft crash killed a foreign couple aboard. The accident involved a Cessna 185 aircraft that departed from Nairobi and was en route to Mbaruk in Nakuru County. It went down in the lakeside town of Naivasha at approximately 5:14 p.m. local time (1414 GMT).

At the time, Naivasha Police Deputy Chief Charles Mwai suggested that poor visibility due to fog in the area might have been a contributing factor. Aviation experts have been called to the scene to conduct an investigation.

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UK Police Arrest Asylum Seeker Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed

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The UK police on Sunday arrested an Ethiopian asylum seeker and convicted sex offender, whose crimes had sparked anti-immigration protests, after he was accidentally released from prison in an embarrassing blunder by British authorities.

London’s Metropolitan Police said officers arrested Hadush Kebatu in the north of the capital on Sunday morning, nearly 48 hours after he was mistakenly freed around 30 miles (48 kilometres) away.

Kebatu, 38, had served the first month of a one-year sentence for sexually assaulting a teenage girl and a woman, but was reportedly due to be deported when the Prison Service error occurred on Friday.

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His high-profile case earlier this year in Epping, northeast of London, sparked demonstrations in various English towns and cities where asylum seekers were believed to be housed, as well as counter-protests.

READ ALSO:UK Police Hunt Asylum Seeker Mistakenly Freed For Sex Offence

Commander James Conway, who oversaw the manhunt for him, said “information from the public” led officers to the Finsbury Park neighbourhood of London, where he was found.

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He was detained by police but will be returned to the custody of the Prison Service,” he added.

Kebatu is now expected to be deported.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Friday he was “appalled” by the “totally unacceptable” mistake that saw him freed rather than sent to an immigration detention centre.

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The Telegraph newspaper said he was wrongly categorised for release on licence and handed a £76 ($101) discharge grant.

READ ALSO:Alleged Misappropriation: MFM Accuses UK Agency Of Discrimination

Police had appealed Saturday for Kebatu to turn himself in, after reports emerged that he had appeared confused and reluctant to leave the prison in Chelmsford, eastern England.

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A delivery driver described seeing Kebatu return several times in a “very confused” state, only to be turned away by staff and directed to the railway station.

The driver told Sky News he saw Kebatu outside the jail, asking, “Where am I going? What am I doing?”

He was starting to get upset, he was getting stressed,” the driver said.

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READ ALSO:UK Is A Home, Not Hotel, Kemi Badenoch Tells Immigrants, Starmer’s Govt

The father of Kebatu’s anonymous teenage victim told the broadcaster that “the justice system has let us down.”

Police arrested the asylum seeker in July after he repeatedly tried to kiss a 14-year-old girl and touch her legs, and made sexually explicit comments to her.

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He also sexually assaulted an adult woman, placing a hand on her thigh, when she intervened to stop his interactions with the girl.

He was staying at the time at Epping’s Bell Hotel, where scores of other asylum seekers have been accommodated, and which became the target of repeated protests.

AFP

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