Author: Lawal AbdulSalam Olawale

President Bola Tinubu has directed the immediate payment of insurance entitlements owed to families of officers and soldiers who died while fighting to defend the nation.

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, made this known at the opening of the Combined Second and Third Quarters COAS Conference, on Tuesday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the conference is being attended by army field commanders and heads of insti.tutions and establishments.

Lagbaja said said that the welfare of troops and their families was of paramount importance and pledged to consolidate all existing welfare arrangements to enhance the well-being of troops and their families to keep them focused on their tasks.

“In addition to providing befitting living quarters for our personnel, we shall ensure the newly introduced ‘Affordable Home Ownership Option for All Soldiers Scheme’ designed to provide affordable and high-quality post-service homes for our soldiers work.

“We shall also ensure that our injured warriors get the best medical care and continue to support the widows and next-of-kin of our fallen heroes.”

Lagbaja appreciated President Tinubu for directing that all pending insurance payments owed to the families were paid without delay, and for his strategic guidance of the Armed Forces.

“On behalf of the officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Army, I want to reiterate our unalloyed loyalty and pledge our total commitment to the defence of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.

The COAS urged army personnel to continue to work with other security agencies to decisively deal with all security challenges facing the country.

He told the participants of his Command Philosophy, which was to “transform the Nigerian Army into a well-trained force, equipped and highly motivated force towards achieving constitutional responsibilities within a joint environment.

According to him, the philosophy would guide and drive the actions and engagements of the army in all operations within and outside the boundaries of Nigeria.

In his address, the Chief of Policy and Plans, Maj.-Gen. Abdulsalam Ibrahim, said the conference was for the officers to brainstorm on the state of affairs of the Nigerian army and develop plans for future engagements.

Ibrahim said the conference was also an avenue for the COAS to physically convey his command philosophy to the field commanders and heads of institutions and establishments.

He said the kinetic operations of the army across various theaters of operations had continued to record unprecedented successes, just as the non-kinetic efforts had continued to yield desirable outcomes.

“We are encouraged not to be demoralised by the incident in Niger State, but intensify our efforts to make the adversaries to continuously pay for their sins until they disappear or surrender.

This conference is designed to provide us with a platform to reflect on achievements while appraising our operations and activities in the second and third quarters of this year in order to obtain plans that align with our overall goals.

“It will also provide us the unique opportunity to engage in honest discussions and insightful conversations and decisions that will guarantee more successes in our operations,” he said.

NAN reports that Lagbaja used the occasion to present new Toyota Hilux vehicle each to eight Regimental Sergeant Majors (RSMs) from different army units and formations

The death toll from freak floods in eastern Libya is expected to soar dramatically, with 10,000 people reported missing, the Red Cross warned on Tuesday.

Officials in Libya have said at least 150 people were killed in the sudden flooding on Sunday afternoon after storm Daniel swept the Mediterranean, lashing Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey.

But Tamer Ramadan of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said the actual toll was likely to be many times higher.

Our teams on the ground are still doing their assessment (but) from what we see and from the news coming to us, the death toll is huge,” he told reporters in Geneva via video link from Tunis.

“It might reach to the thousands,” he said in English. “We don’t have a definite number right now.”

Independent sources had told the IFRC the number reported missing was “hitting 10,000 persons so far”.

“The humanitarian needs are much more beyond the abilities of the Libyan Red Crescent and even the abilities of the government,” Ramadan said.

“That’s why the government in the east has issued an international appeal for support,” he said, adding that IFRC was also preparing to launch an emergency appeal for funds towards the response.

‘Epic proportions’

World Health Organization spokeswoman Margaret Harris meanwhile described the situation in Libya as “a calamity of epic proportions”.

Experts have described storm Daniel — which killed at least 27 people when it struck parts of Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey in recent days — as “extreme in terms of the amount of water falling in a space of 24 hours”

In eastern Libya, the storm hit the coastal town of Jabal al-Akhdar especially hard, as well as Benghazi, where a curfew was declared and schools closed for several days.

The United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization (WMO) meanwhile described how “entire neighbourhoods” in Derna had disappeared and their inhabitants been “swept away by water, after two ageing dams collapsed making the situation catastrophic and out of control”.

Speaking on Libyan network Almasar, Oussama Hamad, prime minister of the east-based government, has reported “more than 2,000 dead and thousands missing” in the city of Derna alone.

Hamad’s government — which in war-battered Libya rivals a UN-brokered, internationally recognised transitional administration in Tripoli — has declared Derna a “disaster area”.

While no medical sources or emergency services have confirmed Hamad’s figures, Ramadan said it appeared “very likely that the number declared (by the eastern official) could be close to the correct number.

He said he hoped the IFRC would be able to provide a more precise toll of the disaster later on Tuesday.

The UN’s Organization for Migration meanwhile voiced concern about the impact the flooding may have had on the many already very vulnerable migrants in the country.

An accident involving an upturned loaded truck has taken a lane on Otedola Bridge, Ojodu Berger, Lagos State.

The accident, which happened on Tuesday, has resulted in traffic congestion inward Lagos/Ibadan Expressway and Ojodu Berger as the bridge is flooded.

However, the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority has said effort is on to remove the truck from the road.

A fatal accident involving an upturned loaded (wheat) truck that has taken a lane on Otedola bridge inw Ojodu Berger.

Traffic is a bit slow coupled with the flooded portion on the bridge.

“Effort is on for the recovery of the contents and the truck from the road,” LASTMA said via its X handle.

Details later…

Suspected armed men have reportedly hijacked two fully loaded buses belonging to the Benue state government-owned Benue Links Transport Company whisking away over 10 passengers from the Lagos-bound vehicles that took off from Makurdi.

It was gathered that the armed men waylaid the vehicles at about 2pm on Sunday along Ajaokuta-Okene road in Kogi state.

A source in the company who spoke on condition of anonymity in Makurdi disclosed that some of the passengers sustained injuries during the attack while some were lucky to have escaped unhurt.

He said, “It is true, the incident happened along Ajaokuta-Okene road yesterday between 2pm and 3pm when the two buses were heading to Lagos.

“Available information indicated that ten passengers were abducted during the attack. And the incident was reported at Adogo Police station near Okene.”

The official lamented that the Okene-Ajaokuta road had become synonymous with the rampant kidnap of unsuspecting commuters.

He said, “this is not the first time we are recording this type of incident on that particular axis of Kogi state and it is not peculiar to us. Several travelers have also fallen victim to the armed gang on that axis. Even at that nothing is being done to check the menace.

“We are appealing to security agencies to do something about these ugly incidents because people now feel very unsafe while plying that road to any part of the country.”

No management staff of the transport company was willing to speak on the matter while the Benue State Police Command also kept mute over the issue probably because the incident did not occur within its jurisdiction

PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu and President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, on Monday in Abu Dhabi, have finalized a historic agreement, which has resulted in the immediate cessation of the visa ban placed on Nigerian travelers.

Furthermore, by this historic agreement, both Etihad Airlines and Emirates Airlines are to immediately resume flight schedules into and out of Nigeria, without any further delay.

As negotiated between the two Heads of State, this immediate restoration of flight activity, through these two airlines and between the two countries, does not involve any immediate payment by the Nigerian government.

In recognition of President Tinubu’s economic development diplomacy drive and proposals today presented by President Tinubu to his counterpart, an agreed framework has been established, which will involve several billions of U.S. dollars worth of new investments into the Nigerian economy across multiple sectors, including defense, agriculture and others, by the investment arms of the Government of the United Arab Emirates.

Ajuri Ngelale, media aide to Tinubu, in a release said that “Additionally, President Tinubu is pleased to have successfully negotiated a joint, new foreign exchange liquidity programme between the two Governments, which will be announced in detail in the coming weeks.”

Also, Tinubu commended the Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE President, for his unalloyed friendship and his determined effort to join hands with him to fully normalize and reset to excellence, the standard of relations between the two important countries, he said