Are you a land grabber (Omo Onile)? Jail term awaits you in Lagos

Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, on Monday fulfilled his pledge of making the menace of land grabbing in Lagos a thing of the past with the signing of the Lagos State Properties Protection Law.
Ambode also signed the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Law, a move which is majorly aimed at boosting security of lives and property in all the Local Government Areas and Local Council Development Areas of the State.
Speaking at the signing ceremony which was attended by the Lagos State Speaker, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa; the Chief Judge of the State, Justice Olufunmilayo Atilade and other top government functionaries, Ambode said the laws were central to his administration’s focus of safeguarding the lives of all residents, as well as attracting, growing investments and improving the ease of doing business in the state.
“In addition to equipping our security agencies, we have now created a legal framework to put some form of communal protection in place to boost and support the great job the Nigeria Police Force is presently doing,” Ambode said.
The governor, who explained that the Neighbourhood Safety Corps would assist the police and other security agencies to maintain law and order across the communities, added that the Neighbourhood Safety Agency, which the new law established, would also be charged with the responsibility of registering all private home security and any other person employed for private home security, amongst other things.
On the Properties Protection Law, Ambode said the need for the law followed the fact that one of the issues that discouraged investors and hindered the ease of doing business in Lagos in the past had always been the menace of land grabbing.
He recalled that a lot of would-be property owners encountered untold harassment from exploitative land grabbers, adding that the law now marks the end of the road for such land grabbers.
“The Lagos State Properties Protection Law will give legal backing to the operations of our law enforcement officers. The main objective of this Law is to ensure that our investors, businessmen and the general populace carry on their legitimate land/property transactions without any hinderance or intimidation henceforth.
“The Properties Law will eliminate the activities of persons or corporate entities who use force and intimidation to dispossess or prevent any person or entity from acquiring legitimate interest and possession of property, ensure that the Special Task Force on Land-Grabbers work with all Security agencies to ensure enforcement of State Government and Private property rights in the State, and ensure proper coordination of the efforts of the various agencies of Government charged with enforcing the State Government’s rights over land in Lagos,” the governor said.
Besides, Ambode said the presence of the heads of the three arms of government – the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary – at the signing ceremony, was a confirmation of the seriousness and resolve of government of Lagos State to address the issues once and for all.
While setting the tone for the signing ceremony earlier, the State’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem said the laws marked demonstration of promise kept by the present administration, and recalled the donation of security equipment to security agencies on two occasions within six months, which had aided the police and other security agencies in reducing crime.
He added that the laws would go a long way in further providing the necessary legal, human and material support to security services in the discharge of their duties.
In his remarks, Obasa said the signing of the two laws confirmed that Lagos is being governed by a responsible governor and a responsive government, adding that the move was also a clear and emphatic message to criminals that Lagos is a no go area for their criminal activities.
Also, Chairman of Ikeja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Dele Oloke, commended Ambode for taking the initiative on the laws, saying that the Properties Protection law would go a long way in curbing the illegal activities of land grabbers, otherwise known as Omo-Oniles and their sponsors, whom he said are sometimes respectable persons in the society.
Highlights of the Properties Protection Law include the reduction to barest minimum the activities of persons or corporate entities who use force and intimidation to dispossess or prevent any person or entity from acquiring legitimate interest and possession of property acquired through State Government or private transactions.
On the other hand, highlights of the Neighbourhood Safety Corps Law include, among others, the establishment of the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Agency for regulation and control of Neighbourhood Safety Corps activities.

VIO, ENGR. GARUBA TOYIN BAGS CRIME BUSTERS AWARD FOR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT AND INTEGRITY

At the recent 2016 edition of Crime Buster award, Engr. Garuba Toyin, a Vehicle Inspection Officer with Lagos State Government was among notable law enforcement agents that received the prestigious Crime Buster Award. The amiable VIO earned the award for Traffic Management and Integrity. A professional to the core, Garuba Toyin is an innovative and qualified Mechanical Engineer. He has over sixteen years experience in vehicle Inspection and public transportation with keen interest in apt transportation, law enforcement and vehicle certification. As a road worthy vehicle enthusiast, he started off his career as a pupil engineer with Ministry of Works, Housing and Transportation, Umuahia, Abia State.

Toyin was born on February 13th 1977. He is a native of Ibeju-Lekki local Government Area of Lagos State. He attended Ogunmodede College, Papa, Epe. Lagos State and he graduated from Lagos State Polytechnic, Isolo with distinction in Mechanical Engineering (HND) in 1999. He did his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC)   with Ministry of Works, Housing and Transportation, Umuahia, Abia State in 2000. He joined the Lagos state civil service on December, 2001 and he was later deployed to ministry of transportation as a Higher Technical Officer (Mechanical). For his dedication to Lagos State Mega City Vision 2025, he has served on different vehicle inspection unit ad-hoc committees on reviewing strategic plans and execution of policies that will ensure that the unit achieves its desired mileage in terms of compliance and certifications. Currently serving in the capacity of a Principal Vehicle Inspection Officer (Zonal Head, Apapa, Lagos State), He Oversees and effectively manage officers attached to Apapa Zone in order to achieve set targets.

Known as an Engineer with strong bias for entrepreneurship, the Lagos Vehicle Inspection Services had in the past seconded him to zones with relatively no presence to start a unit from the scratch in order to attain its goal of being easily accessible to the populace. To date, the existence and achievements of the three zones he started from inception can be justifiably attributed to him. He is a proactive, resourceful and hard working officer cum entrepreneur. he has a pleasant personality as well as competitive drive to get things done with and through people, he is also a personality  that believes in the rule of law and stand for equality and egalitarian society where everybody is given equal opportunity to develop his or her own talent.

Toyin has a Masters Degree in Transport Management and a Post Graduate Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from Ladoke Akintola University Of Technology, Ogbomosho. He his a member of different professional bodies which includes; Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport (CILT), Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Nigerian Institution of Mechanical Engineers (NIMechE.) and Nigerian Society of Engineers (MNSE). A recipient of the inaugural and prestigious Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme(TEEP 2015) seed capital and an alumni of the Tony Elumelu Foundation.

A core family man who juggles between his professional career and family, Engr. Garuba is married with two children.

LAGOS RRS NABS MAN FOR STEALING BATTERY IN LASTMA OFFICE

The operatives of Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of Lagos State Police Command, have apprehended, one Hakeem Fatai, 24, for allegedly stealing batteries from the premises of Lagos State Transport Management Authority (LASTMA) at Ojota area office of the state.
The Policemen who acted on a tip-off by the LASTMA's management about the missing batteries from their premises, laid siege for the suspect, and caught him while attempting to remove another battery from an impounded bus.
Our correspondent gathered that no fewer than Twenty (20) batteries have been removed from the impounded vehicles which were parked inside the premises within a fortnight.
On his arrival at the RRS’ headquarters, the suspect owned up that he operated with an accomplice he  identified as Yahoo, now at large.
According to him¸” yes I am responsible for the missing batteries. But I didn’t work alone. We are a two-man syndicate who usually steal batteries.
Our targeted vehicle was Volkswagen bus because its batteries can be removed easily without much stress.
We don't usually go for trailer for its battery is protected with burglary”.
The suspect, who was picked-up at about 2:00 a.m. over the weekend, by the operatives, said that he always scale through the agency’s fence to access the compound and remove the batteries while his accomplice stayed outside to watch the surroundings for him.
“We have devised our operation to the extent that no one could suspect us while committing the crime inside the premises.
We know the exact time to scale through the fence because their security guards are too fond of sleeping. We capitalized on their inefficiency to strike”, he confessed.
Giving account on why he preferred stealing to legitimate work, the suspect revealed, “Immediately after the death of my mother about ten years ago, after a while, my father re-married. And I felt that once he had remarried, he would shift his attention from us to the new wife. So, I decided to abscond from home to fend for my self.
I went straight to Mile 12 where I met some young boys like me. I have been living in that ghetto since that time. I tried all sort of jobs but I was not deriving pleasure from them.
Even before I finally left my father's home, he had taken me to where I will learn plumbing work at Ajelogo around Mile 12. Despite all that, I wasn't satisfied.
At a particular point in time, I felt tired of this life. This prompted my action to be stealing those batteries”.
The suspect, who is a native of Ijebu-Ode, said that he sold each battery for N2, 500 to one battery charger at Ogijo, suburb of Ogun state.
His confessional statement led to the arrest of the receiver of the stolen items, Nofiu Oriade, 46, the following day by the RRS operatives.
The receiver of the stolen batteries who professed ignorant of the crime, said that he never knew those batteries were stolen items.
“I was ignorant of the sources of those batteries. I thought he was a scavenger who picked up any unused items from refuse dumb. I don’t know he is a thief. I have regretted my action to have been collecting those batteries from him”, he pleaded.
While confirming the arrest of the two suspects, the State Police Public Relations Officer, (PPRO) Superintendent of Police, Dolapo Badmus, said that the onslaught to rid-off crime activities in the state is yielding more positive results.
The suspects have been transferred to Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) for further investigation.

It is possible to make good money from network marketing- Madu Gift, CEO, Meridians Life Support Foundation

Dr. Madu Gift is the Founder, Managing Director/ CEO of Meridians life Support Foundation, a networking organization. In this interview, he bares his mind on various issues including practice of networking business and how Meridians is giving life support to humanity.

How did Meridians Life Support Foundation start?

Meridian Life Support Foundation is virtually a company that started in 2016. The name, Meridian, is name coined in 2004 when I came out of College of Radiesthesiology. It has to do with Chinese philosophy of acupuncture. Today Meridian has become an organization that gives a holistic approach to human existence. If you are healthy and you don’t have money, are you truly alive? Meridian renders services that touch the heart of the world. Our list of services include: Training and skills acquisition package; we have medical package where we focus on optometry, inside our company we have a centre for optometry. Any member of Meridian is entitled to be part of optometry and skills acquisition packages. The medical service is a quarterly thing, while the skills acquisition is a regular thing. The company is about three months old and we are creating a very good record. I have been in the industry for about 16 years now. We are also into networking as well.

Most of the networking companies are foreign, is meridian an indigenous company?

Meridian is an indigenous company; I am the brain behind the Meridian. The western people over the years have been bringing their packages to us and we patronized them; it is high time for us to develop our own and export it to abroad.

What is your background experience that prepared you for this venture?

I have over 16 years experience in networking, the first time I joined a networking company in Nigeria was 1998, and then it was a product company, Forever Living; I joined the company, I love teaching people. Later, other companies came up like GNLD, I didn’t joined GNLD but I later joined Tianshi in January 2004. I saw opportunities; I saw opportunities for people making a living. In my presence a lot of people collected awards and made money. I read books too like the one written by Robert Kiyosaki, I have read a multiple stream of income. I also read the one we call ‘Bible of networking’. Networking can make somebody’s life improve and touch the life of others.

Do you have any foreign affiliates?

I have been a successful networker, I have a lot of experience, I have faced both the good times and the bad times. From there I have also entered into online networking. We do not have any foreign affiliates, 90 percent of what we have are from experience we garnered over the years. I have made good money in the networking industry. With my money I put the thing up and I called those who are real networkers, we rallied round each other and we kicked it off.

How will you allay the fears of people concerning their investment in Meridian?

I want to say that such fear is normal. As Nigerians, it is not easy to believe in a fellow Nigerian. Everything that comes our way, we use the term 419. Everybody use the word 419 including those who do not understand the meaning of 419. What I can say is that, it is not everyman that wear a dirty cloth on the street is a madman. For instance, some are mechanics and they are wearing dirty cloth. The only thing I know is that any organization that is legally registered with federal republic of Nigeria, that shows that there is no cockroach in their cupboard. We are making profits and people are getting what they are promised. Then it is ok, why should it close or run away? I cannot see any reason for that. In this life, we actually need certain level of faith. What I know is that in networking, there is always a boom moment and dull moment. If you look at these product companies that have been in existence, there were times they were booming, there were times it was going down, it doesn’t mean they have closed. All those companies are still there given awards to people.

What is the strength of the organization?

Our people. In Nigeria, I think over the years people are already tired of doing oyinbo things. They know my records in the industry, almost everybody knows me. Nobody will come and point a finger to me that I owe him. Many people came to meridians just because they heard my name, Dr. Madu. People see more integrity in the person they are dealing with. In the first place we are service oriented. Business is not all about selling of physical products, if services are rendered and physical products are not sold business is done. For the services we render, we already have the manpower and instruments to render those services.

Do you have any role model in the industry?

I think the role model I have and the company that really developed me is Tianshi. Though I didn’t make much there but there is something I picked from there. They have the tenacity, seriousness and doggedness. They have the willingness to do it. You know you can have knowledge but if you don’t have the drive, you are going no where. It was the Tianshi that gave me the drive I have. This is a company that is a role model to me, but for individuals I cannot point to individual. The success of people I saw in these companies is role model to me.

What are you doing to ensure that networking is thought in Nigerian schools?

It is coming up; some universities in the western world once in a while teach that. I think I want government to look into networking programmes and see how it can be thought in our schools because, it is already a big industry and it is helping people.

What is the vision of Meridian?

The vision I have for Meridian is dignity and respect for networkers. People will know that you can make money from networking. Our vision is to uplift humanity through networking. We want to show people that there is light in networking.

Who is Madu Gift?

I am from Imo State, I was born in the north, I grew up in the north. I went to school in the north. I love knowledge, I am an outgoing person, and I am an extrovert. I like teaching people. I am a goal getter. I like exploration, I love knowing what I don’t know.

Nigerians Are Tired of Talkshops, Put Food on Our Tables, Nigerians Tell Ministers

The atmosphere was charged, yesterday, as participants at the special Town Hall meeting organized by Ministry of Information and Culture, in collaboration with the Alumni Association of National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, AANI, in Abuja, confronted nine ministers, demanding for quick remedy to the current economic hardship in the country

Some of the aggrieved participants told the ministers that Nigerians were tired of the talkshops and that government should do more to put food on their tables. Speaking at the meeting, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, said 2017 Budget would be submitted to the National Assembly by October this year. According to the minister, necessary consultations on preparing the 2017 budget are ongoing. He revealed that government had already released N331.5 billion to date, as part of capital allocation of the 2016 budget, to key ministries covering sectors that will turn around the economy. He said the ministries that received the capital released were power, works and housing, defence and security, water resources, transportation, agriculture and Niger Delta. N100bn ready for capital projects Presenting his scorecard at the meeting, Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, told the audience that the present administration had been able to reverse the negative trend of spending the bigger chunk of its annual budget on recurrent expenditure to capital by increasing the vote from 10-15 per cent to 30 per cent in the 2016 budget. He, however, disclosed that the Federal Government was ready to release additional N100, 00 billion for capital expenditure, in addition to the N331 billion earlier released in June. Of the N331 billion, Fashola said his ministry received N102 billion as at July 29, and had paid N70 billion to contractors, project managers, consultant, who had not received money for about two and half years. He said: “We are paying out, with the understanding that they will begin to bring back all the workers they have laid off. That is the way to go, and out of this recession. We are not doing anything usual, but working with thinner resources to do more. On power He explained that the administration was trying to complete transmission lines from Gurara, Kashim Mambila plants, and some other NIPP projects across the country to boost power supply. The idea, he said, was to evacuate power immediately after generation, saying progress is being made on other transmission lines. Borrowing In her presentation, Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, said the current effort by Federal Government to borrow some funds was justifiable, in the sense that the funds would be channelled into infrastructure development. Adeosun, who bemoaned the present economic hardship in the country, told the audience that she also inherited 1.2 million civil servants, with over N160 billion total wage bill per month. She described the size of the public sector as a reflection of the failure of the private sector in the country. “We can’t continue that way. That is why we have a very conservative appetite for borrowing,” Adeosun said, adding that there was no quick solution to the present economic challenges. She noted that there was a fundamental problem but assured that government was moving in the right direction. Adopts ranching On his part, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, said the Federal Government had adopted ranching as the only remedy to the lingering farmers and herdsmen crisis in the country. Ogbeh, who traced the problem to the Structural Adjustment Programme, SAP, of Babangida’s administration of 1986, pointed out that “the situation in Nigeria at present did not start today.” He said: “This recession started long time ago in 1986, when the then federal government introduced structural adjustment programme. Then we threw our doors open for all kinds of importation.” To partner states in mining Also in his presentation at the meeting, Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, stated that there should be synergy among the federal, state and local governments for mining to thrive in the country. He said: “Solid mineral is the backbone of industrialization. About $3.3 billion of skilled labor in iron ore and steel is imported into the country. This has to stop for the sector to move forward. ‘’We do not want people to come into the sector and export mining products. If you are in it, you have to set up processing plants to enable us create resources available in that area and send out finished products like cement,’’ Fayemi said. Earlier, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had said the administration was always willing to engage with Nigerians to explain its policies and programmes, as well as seek the necessary input from them. He lamented that some individuals and groups had made it their pastime to continually castigate the present government over an economic situation which was not its own making. -Vanguard