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Straight from the Headlines! What Everyone was Talking About This Week

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It’s been another whirlwind week. On Tuesday May 1st, 2012, Nigerian workers marked the annual Workers’ Day, a day set aside to delibrate on issues surrounding workers and their welfare. However, this year’s celebration was marred with the frequent Boko Haram attacks in northern states for the past few weeks that has left many dead and heightened the level of insecurity in the counrty.

Most of the complaints of workers was centered around insecurity. However, other issues such as the crippling health care system in Lagos state as a result of the ongoing Doctors’ strike was also brought to the fore.

Here’s a recap of some of the stories that made headlines this week.

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Governor of Akwa Ibom state, Goodswill Akpabio has approved the payment of N18,900 minimum wage to workers in the state. He made the announcement in Uyo on Monday 30th April, 2012 when the state’s chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) paid him a solidarity visit in respect of workers day rally. The governor said that he had set up a committee, comprising labour and government officials to look into the issue as demanded by the NLC, adding that the outcome was the signing of the agreement. He stated that execution of projects by his administration would not be at the detriment of payment of salaries and emolument of workers. “Payment of salaries and emolument of worker remain a major project. Your entitlement on a monthly basis is a project for the government.”

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Five persons were killed on Monday  30th April, 2012 when a 30-man robbery gang attempted to rob three banks in Ikare-Akoko in Akoko North-East Local Government Area of Ondo State. Those killed included a pastor, who was on his way to a vigil, a security guard, two passers-by and two Okada riders. The robbers, who came in a convoy of buses, were said to have arrived the banks (names withheld) on Jubilee Road about 10 p.m. and laid siege for  four hours. Their attempt to gain access to the vaults was futile. For the four hours they operated, the town was held hostage while there was pandemonium. Dynamites and other sophisticated weapons were used to blow open the bank electronic doors, but the vaults in the banks were impenetrable.

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A Victim

A bomb exploded at the premises of the Taraba State Ministry of Finance on Monday, 30th April 2012  killing at least eleven people and destroying part of the building and damaging  valuable items.
The bomb exploded at about 8.45 a.m. when workers were resuming for work after the weekend break. According to reports it was a suicide bomb attack targeting a senior police official’s convoy in killing several people, with  the senior officer unharmed, authorities said. Police Public Relations Officer, Ibiang Mbasike, confirmed the blast. “Yes, there was a blast at the Ministry of Finance. There are casualties, but  we are not sure of the figures for now,’’ he said.

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A group of 44 Nigerians were on Tuesday May 1st 2012, deported from Malta on an Air Malta charter flight. Malta, a member of the European Union, is a group of seven islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Only the three largest islands – Malta, Gozo and Comino – are inhabited. The flight which conveyed the deported Nigerians was coordinated by the Malta Home Affairs Ministry and the police. The 33 men and 11 women had requested asylum from the government of Malta based on the insecurity in Nigeria. However, Malta’s Home Affairs Ministry said that the requests of the asylum seekers were inadmissible and their appeal was not accepted since Nigeria is considered a safe country. Most of the migrants had arrived in Malta last year. They were housed in detention centres. Each deported person was escorted by two police officers. The flight to Lagos also included a medical team.

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There was shock and consternation when the news filtered in about how Nigeria’s most successful female preacher, Lady Apostle (Mrs.) Helen Ukpabio lost four of her siblings –same father and same mother  on Sunday, March 25,2012 in Mbente,Ini local government area of Akwa Ibom State. As the story goes, the three brothers(Charles,Emmanuel and Joseph Akpabio) were allegedly shot by Nigerian police before their aged mother (Mrs. Etim Akpabio) and their younger sister, Elizabeth, upon hearing the sad news, slipped into coma and also died. The three brothers were accused of armed robbery and kidnapping. According to sources, they were allegedly first crippled with gun shots. And as they wailed and queried what they had done to deserve what they were doing to them, they were taken back to the village.

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Unidentified gunmen on Wednesday night invaded Potiskum Cattle Market in Potiskum, Yobe State, and killed 50 persons. Using explosives and assorted guns, the gunmen attacked the market around 6p.m. The attack was believed to be in revenge for an incident earlier in the day, when traders fought off a gang which tried to rob the market. Police and residents said a member of the gang was caught and doused in petrol before a tyre was placed around his neck and he was burnt to death. Residents described a terrifying scene at the market usually crowded with traders, with scores of cattle burnt, the market razed and dozens of people killed. A resident said firefighters were at the scene on Thursday morning searching wells out of fears that residents had fallen in and drowned while trying to flee. Residents crowded a local hospital to determine if their relatives were among the dead.

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There was pandemonium, Wednesday April 4th yesterday, at the domestic wing of Murtala Muhammed  Airport Terminal 2, MMA2, Lagos, after rumour went round of imminent bomb  attack. The commotion was compounded by heavy presence of policemen inside the  airport terminal and outside the airport beefing up security. As soon as the rumour became widespread, the police Anti-bomb Squad and  security personnel of Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited, BASL, managers of  MMA2 Terminal, swung into action and subjected all vehicles entering into the  airport to through check with metal detectors. The situation caused a heavy traffic to and from the airport, forcing road-  users, especially intending travellers to trek long distance in order not to miss their flight. Speaking, the Police Commissioner in charge of the airport, Mr. Olatunji  Caulcrick, said the exercise was necessitated by the bomb scare.

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No fewer than six journalists were locked up in the office of the Police Public Relations Officer of the Special Fraud Unit in Lagos on Thursday May 3rd, 2012 when former Kwara State Governor Bukola Saraki visited the unit to respond to allegations of a N9bn loan scam levelled against him. Saraki, who  was  supposed to be at the command at 10am on Thursday, arrived an hour later. He drove into the SFU premises in black Mercedes Benz Sports Utility Vehicle with Abuja number plate CH 165 RBC amid tight security. His aides shielded him from journalists, who had stormed the premises before he alighted, to meet with the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Tunde Ogunsakin. The governor’s aides appealed to journalists not to take photographs of the member of the Senate but the pleas fell on deaf ears.

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The founder and General Overseer of Living Faith Church, aka Winners Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo has inspected the site for the smooth take-off of the Cross River campus of the Covenant University Otta in Ogun State. The proposed University which is expected to take-off soon would offer courses like Engineering, Computer Science, as well as other courses which are not offered by the University of Calabar  and the Cross River State University of Technology. Oyedepo who is also the Chairman, Board of Governors of Surefoot American International School, SAIS, Calabar inspected the school’s Science Laboratory, Science Exhibition Hall, School Library, Kindergarten session amongst others.

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How do you feel about the news that made headlines across the country this week? What other stuff happened that you would love to share?

Have a great weekend!

Adeola Adeyemo is a graduate of Industrial Relations and Personnel Management from University of Lagos. However, her passion is writing and she worked as a reporter with NEXT Newspaper. She believes that anything can be written about; anything can be a story depending on the angle it is seen from and the writer's imagination. When she is not writing news or feature articles, she slips into her fantasies and creates interesting fiction pieces. She blogs at www.deolascope.blogspot.com

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