General
US Identifies Nigeria as Viable for Safe Chemical Security
By Adedapo Adesanya
The United States has identified Nigeria as one of the most viable countries to promote chemical security for a safer world and called on the country to responsibly operate using the commodity.
This was the crux of points raised by Mr Daniel Rockniak, Senior Director, America Chemical Council (ACC) at a workshop in Abuja on Wednesday, noting that Nigeria is one of those countries it has identified as hopefully good locations for responsible care.
He said that his mission to Nigeria was to talk to stakeholders handling chemical distribution about how the country could handle responsible chemical distribution.
He said that it was imperative to potentially identify the responsible organisations to sponsor responsible care in Nigeria.
“We have seen benefits around the world of a country and industries taking up responsible care and having a program that identifies specific requirements.
He stated that the US was not about to replace the regulations on chemical distribution in the country but to complement them.
According to him, in a country where you already have chemical management programs, responsible care can help improve a company’s performance.
He said that if there were challenges with regulatory processes, responsible care could help fill some of those gaps by using best practices around the world to improve their chemical management.
On his part, Mr Patrick Omokpariola, Director of Chemical Evaluation and Research at the National Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) said that the concept of chemical safety has been around for many years.
“Everyone that has contact with chemicals and chemistry already knows that chemicals are inherently hazardous and dangerous, so we have to be kept in such a way to be safe.”
He said that the real concept of chemical security started after September 11, 2021, usually referred to as 9/11, during the attack on the World Trade Center in New York.
He said that NAFDAC had adopted the chemical security programmes of the US, adding that this is what the country modelled its operations on to ensure that citizens keep chemicals safe.
“Chemical security is to keep people safe from the harmful effects of chemicals, while chemical security, on the other hand, is to keep the chemicals safe.
He stated that this is so that people who have various activities, such as non-state actors, terrorists, and the rest of them, do not have access to chemicals.
This, he said, was to forestall criminal elements such as suicide bombers and terrorists, among others from using it to manufacture bombs.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Ogun State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) says it arrested 210 suspects for vandalism, fraud, and illegal mining in the last 18 months as part of its anti-vandalism drive.
The Ogun State Commandant, Mrs Remilekun Ekundayo, disclosed this during a courtesy visit to the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, council in Abeokuta, the state capital.
Mrs Ekundayo said the command had also recovered over N23 million in fraud-related cases for victims and resolved more than 1,700 disputes through alternative dispute resolution mechanisms within the same period.
She added that the command has sustained intelligence-driven operations that have prevented several criminal activities and ensured the protection of pipelines, railway corridors, and power installations across the state.
While stressing that security remains a shared responsibility, Mrs Ekundayo called for stronger collaboration with the media to enhance public awareness and safety in the state.
According to her, the visit was aimed at strengthening cooperation between the corps and the media, describing journalists as critical partners in the state’s security architecture.
“In matters of security, your role becomes even more strategic and impactful,” she said.
“The NSCDC is statutorily empowered to protect critical national assets and infrastructure, prevent vandalism and economic sabotage, and support disaster management and emergency response,” she said.
In his remarks, the Ogun State Chairman of the NUJ, Mr Wale Olanrewaju, assured the commandant of the council’s support and continued partnership through accurate and prompt reporting of security issues.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s Minister of Defence, Mr Christopher Musa, says the capture of a key Malian town by rebels poses a threat to West Africa that requires foreign intervention to prevent the insurgency from spreading.
A series of coordinated attacks by militants in late April left Mali’s Defence Minister dead and forced Malian and Russian mercenary forces to withdraw from the northeastern stronghold of Kidal.
Mr Musa, a retired army general, said in an interview with Bloomberg that the international community must come together to deal with the insurgents before they wreak havoc on the region.
The deteriorating situation in Mali may trigger a wider regional crisis, the defence minister said.
His admittance comes as the border region of Nigeria, Benin and Niger on the southern edge of the Sahel region is becoming a new stronghold for jihadists, as militants turn forests and pastoral networks in West Africa into bases for recruitment and international attacks.
“If they allow them to get any foothold in Mali, completely, they are not stopping there,” he warned.
He called for a joint campaign style like that of the United States against the Islamic State in Syria as a way to root out terrorists in West Africa.
General Musa noted that the collapse of states across the region has been the main driver of arms proliferation, with coastal West African states, including Ghana and Togo, becoming increasingly vulnerable.
He cited the fall of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 as a turning point that released vast stockpiles of weapons into circulation, a problem compounded by ongoing instability in Sudan.
The combined crises have created an open corridor across the Sahel, allowing small arms, light weapons and ammunition to flow largely unchecked.
He added that this has worsened due to weak border controls and the ease of movement across the region.
Attacks in Nigeria have also risen, with data from the website of the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED), a conflict-monitoring group, affirming that the number of suicide bombings in Nigeria by March already matched the annual average over the past six years.
The Nigerian military has also been dealt a blow to its military bases and senior figures targeted. In April, Brigadier-General Oseni Omoh Braimah was killed when Islamist fighters attacked a base in Borno State.
The minister said disruptions linked to global conflicts, including the war in Ukraine, as well as the ongoing war in Iran, have made it harder to source weapons even when funding is available. To meet its defence goals, Nigeria is stepping up efforts to build domestic arms-manufacturing capacity.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A former Minister of Power in Nigeria, Mr Saleh Mamman, has been convicted by a Federal High Court in Abuja over his connection with a N33.8 billion fraud.
He was found guilty of a 12-count charge brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
While delivering his judgment on Thursday, Justice James Omotosho declared that the former government official is guilty of all the charges levied against him by the agency.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CR/273/2024, the EFCC informed the court that the convict, who served under the administration of late President Muhammadu Buhari, conspired with ministry staff to divert about N22 billion meant for the Zungeru and Mambilla Hydro Electric Power projects.
He was removed from office by the late president in 2021 and arrested by the anti-money laundering organisation four months after. He was said to have used embezzled funds of up to N33.8 billion to acquire properties.
At the court today, the judge confirmed that Mr Mamman made a cash payment of $655,700 (equivalent to N200 million) for landed property in Abuja, without recourse to a financial institution.
He was also found guilty of criminal breach of trust in relation to funds released by the federal government for the Mambilla and Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Plant projects.
“The evidence of the prosecution is overwhelming against the scanty and almost absent defence of the defendant.
“The defendant did not offer any credible evidence to rebut the prosecution’s case,” Justice Omotosho held.
“Rather than creating a legacy to tackle the epileptic power supply in the country, the defendant was living large at the expense of ordinary citizens.
“Little wonder that Nigerians have remained in darkness till today,” the judge added.
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