A plantain seller leaves netizens with mixed emotions as he shares a video capturing his 11-year transformation.

The man took to social media to shared a photo capturing 11 years of his growth.

A first photo showed him as a young teenager hawking plantains on his head on the street.

The next photo of his recent photo broke the hearts of many.

Netizens had expected him to have established a sort of business or any other life change that would have reinforced the idea of a grass-to-grace transformation.

However the next photo showed him still selling plantain, this time, pushing large wheel barrow of them.

Read comments below:

@user OG cubana112 said: “who expected luxury life style like me 😅😅😅😅”

@Sir. Gentle said: “May God turn ur story around 🙏”

@Nana_Asamoah_01 said: “And the guy in white no leave you since 😂😂”

@yaw dillin said: “It looks funny but really sad 😞”

@Kwadwo Gyamfi said: “😂😂was expecting this guy to be in USA”

@Bizzay said: “Who else shouted eeiii😹”

@Eggyork said: “Is the man on white ur monitoring spirit”

@salimetoo9 said: “At least you have expand the business 😂”

@mandee J@ne🇺🇸❤️🥰💕 said: “I couldn’t hold my tears when I saw his hustle 😭😢 it shall be well 🥺🥺”

 

The Federal Government FG has warned states and local government areas to brace for increased flooding as the country enters the peak of the rainy season.

The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof. Joseph Utsev, handed down the warning at a news conference on Thursday in Abuja.

He said that precautionary measures should be taken to avert possible disasters from such occurrences.

Utsev said states had been alerted following recent reports highlighted in the 2024 Annual Flood Outlook as unveiled by the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency.

He said state governors had been provided with detailed forecasts and preventative measures specific to their regions.

According to him, significant flood risks have been identified in 148 local government areas across 31 states, including Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, and Anambra.

The outlook, divided into three scenarios, indicated heightened flood risks from April to November, with the most severe flooding expected between July and September.

“Over 10 states and the FCT have already experienced varying levels of flooding since April, resulting in casualties and property damage.

“Notable incidents include the flooding in Trademore Estate, FCT, which led to two deaths and significant property loss,” he said.

Utsev noted the need for states and local government areas to intensify flood prevention measures, such as clearing blocked drainage systems, relocating residents from flood-prone areas, and constructing flood barriers.

He said flooding was expected from major rivers like Niger and Benue, urging continuous monitoring and proactive measures.

The minister said that increased rainfall could exacerbate the ongoing cholera outbreak, which had caused 63 deaths and 2,102 suspected cases.

He said that a presidential committee had been constituted to address cholera and other waterborne diseases linked to flooding.

Utsev said a realigned 2023 flood report had led to the formation of a new committee, chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima, to address broader disaster management issues, including erosion and desertification.

He said that the committee had submitted its report which had been approved by the National Economic Council, with implementation strategies set to commence shortly.

He added that the Clean Nigeria Use the Toilet campaign and the activation of national laboratories were part of comprehensive measures to enhance public health and sanitation.

The Director General of NIHSA, Mr Clement Nze, underscored the Federal Government’s advisory role, noting that enforcement and local action fell under states’ jurisdiction.

He said that the Federal Government would continue its efforts to construct buffer dams, alongside the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon, to mitigate flood risks.

NIHSA’s 2024 Annual Flood Outlook reveals that 148 local government areas across 31 states are at high risk of flooding.

The affected states include Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Kebbi.

Others are Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba and Yobe.

 

 

 

The Nigerian government has said that 75 private aircrafts have complied with its Verification Exercise over unpaid import duties.

The spokesperson of Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Abdullahi Maiwada disclosed this exclusively to DAILY POST in an interview on Monday.

The development comes as the service, amid its revenue drive, announced the commencement of a month-long Verification exercise which commenced on June 19, 2024, for private aircrafts.

The service confirmed to DAILY POST that a United States-registered Gulfstream G650ER jet belonging to a leading Nigerian bank was grounded over failure to pay due import duty.

When DAILY POST asked if a private aircraft was grounded over failure to pay import duty, Maiwada said, “Yes we grounded the aircraft in question”.

“About 60 aircrafts have complied. We are currently confirming another 15 to make it 75”, he added.

The exercise, expected to last till 19 July, 2024, would turn in billions of revenue to Nigerian federal government confers.

Recall that NCS recovered N2 billion from a similar exercise in 2019.

 

 

Nigerian Newspapers: 10 things you need to know Tuesday morning

1. Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has vowed that Ireti Kingibe, Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, won’t return to the senate in 2027. He was reacting to an earlier claim by the senator that FCT residents were not impressed with Wike’s performance.

2. Twenty-five people were killed and 127 others injured in two road accidents in Kano State on Monday. Among the survivors, it was gathered that 25 remained unconscious as doctors, nurses and other supporting staff battled to resuscitate them.

3. Amid the increasing demand for an efficient and responsive police system, the Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele on Monday lamented the dysfunctionality of the Nigeria Police, pointing out that as currently constituted, the police were not properly established to succeed in the country.

4. The authorities of the Nigerian Air Force on Monday confirmed that one of its Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, UAVs, crashed in Kaduna. It also said it had commenced investigation to ascertain what might have caused the mishap, adding that there was no single casualty since it was unmanned equipment.

5. The Nigerian Customs Services has intercepted a 40ft container laden with various categories of arms and nine containers loaded with codeine at Onne Port, Rivers State. The Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, who displayed the intercepted weapons and drugs to journalists at Onne, Rivers State, on Monday, said the weapons were brought into the country from Turkey.

6. As Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol from the Dangote Petrochemical Refinery hits the local market in two to three weeks, petroleum marketers on Monday expressed the fear that the product’s price may be higher than expected. They spoke against the backdrop of the 650,000-capacity refinery’s failed attempt to get feedstock locally from the international oil companies.

7. The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, says the commission has no constitutional power to conduct local government elections except in the Federal Capital Territory. Yakubu said this on the sidelines of a two-day induction retreat for INEC Resident Electoral Commissioners on Monday in Lagos.

8. The Federal Capital Territory Police Command on Sunday said its personnel had rescued two people kidnapped at the Guto village in the Bwari Area Council. Some gunmen were said to have stormed the village on Sunday morning and abducted the victims.

9. The Akwa Ibom State Police Command has arrested four suspected fake Economic and Financial Crimes Commission officers while planning to abduct and collect a ransom of N150m from their victim name (withheld). The suspects were paraded alongside other criminal elements at the command headquarters in Ikot Akpanabia, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital, on Monday.

10. The Naira on Monday appreciated in the parallel market to N1,510 per dollar from N1,515 per dollar last week Friday. However, the Naira depreciated to N1,508.99 per dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market, NAFEM.

 

 

 

A video has surfaced online showcasing Dali Koumbe village in Mauritania, where people have been born blind across multiple generations.

In a documentary shared by the YouTuber Project Happiness, a visit was made to the village of Dali Koumbe in Mauritania.

According to one of the villagers interviewed, this lineage of blindness began ten generations ago when a woman was reportedly visited by an entity in her dreams.

Allegedly, the entity foretold that she would give birth to a virtuous man without eyesight, and since then, every generation has been born blind.

Among the village’s notable residents is Sheikh Mohammed Mahmoud, whose father was also born blind.

The man revealed that despite being blind, his father Sheikh Mahmoud was the one who discovered all the water resources in Mauritania.

When asked about his role in the community, he said;

“My purpose is to teach the Quran. I learned it as a child, and now I teach it to our children. I’m also the imam of the mosque in the village. I pray with my community. This is my God-given purpose; I can’t do anything else.”

When asked how he learned the Quran without being able to read, he described the journey.

“It took a long time. I went to a teacher who taught the Quran to normal children. I was welcomed as if I could see like everyone else. For me, the teacher wrote the Quran verses and read them to me repeatedly until I was able to repeat them from memory. Every day of my life was like this until I memorized the entire Quran perfectly,” he explained.

When asked about their perception of the world without sight, Sheikh Mahmoud added;

“We only sense if there is something nearby but cannot see it exactly. It’s not something we can describe. Allah has given us enough light to walk and to appreciate light as it was given to us.”

 

 

A 103-year-old woman named Mariam has shared her lifelong story of love, patience, and heartbreak, detailing her deep affection for a white man who captured her heart but never reciprocated.

The woman, who has never married nor had children, attributed her single status to a decades-long wait for a man named John, a white European man whom she met in her youth.

Narrating her story, the woman described John as a young man full of adventure and kindness, who had come to Tanzania seeking adventure.

” I met john, a young white man from Europe who had come to Tanzanian in search of adventure and purpose I helped him navigate and settle comfortably into his new environment over time our friendship blossomed into something more to be honest, he was unlike anyone i have ever met his manners, stories and kindness all fascinated me he respected my culture and showed genuine interest in my life and aspirations we spent countless hours envisioning a future filled with love and happiness i believed he was truly unique and indeed he was.

“Our relationship blossomed and i found myself falling deeply in love every moment we spent together made my feelings for him grow stronger I could see that he loved me too, his eyes sparkled with genuine affection whenever he looked at me and his actions always showed his care and commitment I love him back who heartedly and unconditionally because for the first time in my life it was all about love in its purest form we shared dreams, hopes and secrets together buiding an unbreakable bond i also hoped that john would be the one to change my destiny i dreamed that he met take me away from the life of struggle i had always known and experienced with him i envisioned a future filled with endless possibilities free from the hardship that had defined my past he gave me hope that together we could build a new life full of love and happiness,” the woman said.

Tragically, the woman’s hopes were dashed when John abruptly received an urgent call to return to his village, without bidding her farewell or providing an explanation.

Devastated by his sudden disappearance, Mariam spent years searching for him, clinging to the belief that he would someday return to fulfill their dreams.

“I was devastated I couldn’t believe he had disappeared initially i considered the possibility of it being a prank or test of my patience i searched high and low for john desperately hoping for an explanation but he was no where to be found days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months and still there was no traced of him months turned into years and yet i clung to believe that john would eventually return i refused to accept the idea that he may not come back anytime soon despite the wonderful moments we had shared, i remained a virgin in our culture, it was expected that preserves her purity until marriage having sex before a marriage was considered a taboo so i made it-my priority to maintain my purity… this culture beleive was deeply ingrained in me and i took my commitment to take it serious even though i loved john deeply and we had an incredible bond i remained steadfast in upholding this cultural value i beleived that one day we would be married and my patience will be rewarded … however as years went by the hopes of his returns began to fade leaving me feeling both betrayed and alone nevertheless, i remained resolute in my promise to myself and my culture,” she added.

See below;

 

 

The Federal Government FG through the Nigeria Customs Service has grounded a United States-registered Gulfstream G650ER jet belonging to a leading Nigerian bank, signalling the commencement of government clampdowns on private jet owners over unpaid import duty running into several billions of naira.

The development came barely two weeks after the NCS began a one-month verification exercise for private jet owners in the country. The exercise which began on June 19, 2024, is expected to end on July 19, 2024.

In a public notice by the Customs, the exercise aims to identify private jet operators that have illegally imported aircraft into the country without paying the necessary import duties.

The customs had recovered about N2bn into the government coffers when a similar exercise was carried out in 2019.

At least 80 private jet owners are expected to present their import documents and aircraft certificate of registration to the Customs in Abuja during the one-month exercise.

Although the grounding of private jets which fail to pay the necessary import duty is expected to begin after the one-month Customs verification exercise, findings showed that moves by some operators to export their aircraft might have forced the NCS to begin the clampdowns on some private jet operators.

The Nigeria Customs Service had last week said some operators of foreign registered private jets were temporarily flying their aircraft out of the country apparently in a bid to evade the exercise.

However, findings by The PUNCH on Sunday disclosed that a luxury Gulfstream G650ER plane belonging to a tier-1 bank had been grounded at Lagos airport over unpaid import duties reportedly estimated at N1.9bn.

It was learnt that the NCS had written the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency asking them to cancel the flight clearance approval given to the private aircraft.

Our correspondent gathered that the agencies had received the letters to distrain the US-registered Gulfstream G650ER with registration number N331AB and manufacturer’s serial number 6487.

The bank is reportedly owing about N1.9bn in unpaid import duties to the government on two formerly owned private jets (Gulfstream G450 and Gulfstream G550 aircraft), which according to sources have since been taken out of the country.

It was also understood that the assessment of N1.9bn was based on a verification exercise carried out by the NCS in 2021.

It was learnt that going by the current exchange rate, the N1.9bn might be raised to about N6bn. Aircraft import duties are computed based on prevailing exchange rate.

NCAA and NAMA officials said they had received the cancellation of the previously granted flight clearance approval for the Gulfstream G650ER aircraft.

According to the letter, the luxury aircraft which cost over $65m, was found to have contravened the Federal Government’s import duty regulations and as such denied the necessary Export Permit by the Customs Service Area Command at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.

A copy of the letter written to the NCAA and NAMA, which was sighted by one of our correspondents, was titled “Re: cancellation of flight clearance approval for Gulfstream G650ER with registration N331AB and manufacturer’s serial number 6487.”

The letter read in part, “The above subject matter refers.  The Nigeria Customs in its drive for enhanced revenue collection decided to do a verification exercise on private airlines operating in Nigeria.

“The verification aims to identify privately owned aircraft that were inappropriately imported into the country. This will enable the Service to perfect these Imports and collect revenue accruable to the Federal Government.

“The above-cited aircraft has been found to have contravened the Federal Government’s import duty regulations and as such denied Export Permit by the Customs Service (MMIA Command).

“In furtherance to the above, we are soliciting your kind co-operation and assistance to deny flight clearance approval”

The Comptroller General, NCS, Adewale Adeniyi, had two weeks ago said a good number of private jets were leaving the country as the verification began.

Adeniyi, who disclosed this while speaking in an interview with Arise Television, stated that since the exercise started,  only a few owners have shown up.

“Very few of them (private jet operators) have showed up for verification and we gather intelligence that a good number of them are leaving Nigeria since the announcement was given because they would not want to be verified,” he said.

The CGC explained that the service introduced the private jet verification exercise because more private jets were operating outside the ambits of the law.

“We have seen so many of these aircraft flying and our record tends to show that only a few of them have shown up to pay duty and this is why we are bringing this verification up,” he said.

The CGC disclosed that data obtained from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority revealed that though many private jets were operating in the country, only a few had paid customs duties.

Adeniyi explained that when the exercise started sometime in 2019, the service realised N2bn.

“Recall this was not the first time we did it. We did something close to this in 2019 and the exercise fetched us as much as N2bn within the short time that we did it.

“We discovered that there are more private jets that are operating in Nigeria but have not been brought under the ambit of the law. So the data that we got from the NCAA shows that only very few of them paid customs duty to operate in Nigeria,” he stated.

According to the customs boss, the international aviation regulations show that private jets flying in the country are obliged to pay duty.

“If they are here for a brief period in the Nigerian airspace and return, they are not obliged to pay any duty; that is, if they are here on a temporary importation visit. But once they are here and are used within Nigeria, they are liable to pay duty,”

The CGC reiterated that the verification exercise was meant to confirm “aircraft operating within the ambit of the law and those that are operating outside the law.”

According to a Customs notice, private aircraft owners are expected to bring some documents for the verification exercise, namely aircraft Certificate of Registration, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority’s Flight Operation Compliance Certificate, NCAA’s Maintenance Compliance Certificate, NCAA’s Permit for Non-Commercial Flights, and Temporary Import Permit (if applicable).

The latest clampdowns on operators of improperly imported private jets came more than one year after the Federal Government suspended the action.

In the past three years, the government had planned to recover import duty running into billions of naira from some private jet operators who had used certain technical loopholes to evade the payment of import duty.

A few private jet owners paid the mandatory import duty after the Hameed Ali-led NCS took some significant steps to recover the revenue.  However, several owners and operators of private jets in the country have yet to pay the statutory duty.

Many private aircraft operators in the country have allegedly explored technical loopholes in the regulation to fraudulently obtain a Temporary Import Permit from the Nigeria Customs Service instead of paying the statutory import duty on their imported aircraft.

The TIP, which is valid for an initial period of 12 months, can be extended by six months twice, according to the regulations.

However, several operators of private jets in the country have continued to extend the TIP indefinitely, a development that prompted the Customs to effect past clampdowns.

According to new findings, no fewer than 80 private jet operators are expected to present their aircraft import documents for verification during the one-month exercise.

The TIP has been described by some stakeholders as a fraudulent means of evading the mandatory import duty. Importers of private jets, especially foreign registered private jets, are expected to pay five per cent of the value of the private jet as import duty.

However, due to the high cost of private jets, some owners often prefer not to pay the import, according to Customs officials.

Instead, the operators prefer to obtain a TIP under the guise that the aircraft is coming into the country for a temporary period, quoting the International Civil Aviation Organisation Convention Article 24 which focuses on Customs waiver for commercial aircraft operating in a country temporarily.

But the new leadership of Customs appears poised to get all operators to pay the import duty.

Unconfirmed sources said the government might get close to N100bn in unpaid import duty on imported private aircraft due to the high exchange rate.

This analysis is however dependent on whether the Customs chooses to implement the 25 per cent penalty fee such aircraft owners are meant to pay for delayed payment. The 25 per cent penalty fee is in addition to the statutory five per cent import duty.

Meanwhile, National Public Relations Officer, NCS, Abdullahi Maiwada, recently confirmed the verification exercise, which began two Wednesdays ago.

Sometime in 2021, about 17 owners of foreign-registered private jets, comprising top business moguls, leading commercial banks, and other rich Nigerians, dragged the Federal Government to court, seeking to stop the grounding of their planes over alleged import duty default.

This came after the Federal Government approved the decision of the Nigeria Customs Service to ground about 91 private jets over their alleged refusal to pay import duties running to over N30bn.

The NCS had in 2021 embarked on a review of import duties paid on private jets brought into the country since 2006.

At the end of the 60-day exercise, 57 private jets, which had licences for commercial charter operations, were cleared and issued Aircraft Operators Certificates by the Customs.

However, 29 private jets, whose owners came for the verification, were found to be liable to pay the import duty.

The Customs also compiled a list of another 62 private jets whose owners failed to appear for the verification exercise but were found liable for import duty payment.