Headline

Protest, Unrest Looms As BEDC Disconnects UNIBEN From National Grid

Published

1 year ago

July 2, 2024

Students and staff of the University of Benin, UNIBEN, are sitting on the edge of provocation that could lead to unrest and strike over power outage in the school which has been on for over a month now.

The issue has now been compounded as the Benin Electricity Distribution Company, BEDC Plc, the power distribution company in Edo State, servicing the school, last week formally disconnected the school from its services as a result of non-payment of bills.

The reason behind the electricity crisis is attributed to the recent increase in electricity tariff for some categories of consumers as approved by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC ) which reportedly shot up the university’s monthly electricity bill from N80 million to over N250 million.

The non-availability of electricity on the campus is putting a strain on the students and staff as they, including lecturers, have resorted to using solar powered facilities including lights in their offices with others using generators.

The health centre at the Ugbowo campus is worst hit as health officials don’t have access to light from 10 pm when the three hours the school put on its generating set is exhausted daily and at times, workers on night duty use torchlights.

Strategic offices including the secretariat of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) run on generators and there is no substantive Students Union Government (SUG) since the union was disbanded after some of its officials invaded the Senior Staff Quarters when a governorship candidate was their guest, an action that was seen as an affront on the management and staff of the university by the students.

The students are at the mercy of the management of the school as at now.

The BEDC disconnected the university from its services following their inability to reach agreement over the contentious electricity billing.

The obvious implication is that staff cannot deliver on their work 100 percent “because it is only the administrative block that the generator can power throughout working hours” and the students cannot have a conducive environment to learn.

When contacted, the Head, Branding and Corporate Communications of BEDC, Mrs. Evelyn Gbiwen, attributed the increase in energy tariff to the directive of the NERC. “The new tariff system determines what ‘Band A’ customers would pay, there is nothing deliberate about any customer.

“It is a general policy that when customers don’t pay their bills, they will be disconnected. And it is when such a customer pays his bills that he would be reconnected,” she added.

The Public Relations Officer of the University, Mrs Beneditta Ehanire, when contacted said “Management is bending backwards really but will continue to sue for patience because everyone is tensed. Yesterday, a tanker was engaged to supply water to a hostel that had a water challenge.”

The statement the University issued a few weeks ago said the University paid the over eighty million Naira monthly bill up till April, 2024 in the two campuses of Ugbowo and Ekehuan.

“The delay to Pay the May bill is as a result of the disputed astronomically increased bill of over two hundred and fifty million naira, monthly, thrust on the University by BEDC.

“Despite the challenges, Management of the University has gone the length to ensure that students do not suffer unduly by providing generator light to all the hostels between the hours of 6am to 7am and 7pm to 10pm daily.

“Management appeals once again to staff and students to be patient and to demonstrate understanding of the situation as it is also exploring alternative power sources including solar energy.”

Headline

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

Published

12 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

Headline

Kazakhstan Bans Forced Marriage, Bride Kidnapping

Published

12 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

Headline

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