DID you Know: Nigeria Police arrest 45 suspected kidnappers

The Nigeria Police have arrested 45 suspects in Kogi State in northern Nigeria in connection with kidnapping, armed robbery and other violent crimes in the last three weeks.The Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Emmanuel Ojukwu, who announced the arrests in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital on Monday, on behalf of Nigeria’s Inspector-General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase, said that a special task force was deployed to Kogi State on May 27 and supported by 300 mobile policemen drawn from across the country.

The police chief had deployed a Special Anti-Crime Task Force headed by Commissioner of Police Chris Ezike from Edo State, to tackle the spate of kidnapping in Kogi State.

“The I-G charged the Task Force with the following: To appreciate the worrisome crime situation in Kogi State and quickly design a template to contain the crime. “To identify all criminal syndicates, their leaders/foot soldiers, sponsors and arrest them with operational precision. “To identify kidnappers’ safe havens, hideouts and liberate victims,” he said.

The suspects included a politician, who contested the State House Assembly election for Okehi constituency on April 11, but lost.
A 72-year-old-man, who is the uncle of an ex-Minister from the state, a woman, a cripple and some inmates, who escaped from the prison during jails break in the state were also arrested. Ojukwu alleged that the politician was responsible for supplying arms and ammunition to the robbers and kidnappers.

US President Obama to Visit Ethiopia late July.

President Barack Obama will visit Ethiopia in late July, 2015, the US Press Secretary disclosed on Saturday.This will be the first visit of a sitting U.S. President to Ethiopia and to the African Union headquarters, underscoring efforts to work with the countries and citizens of sub-Saharan Africa to accelerate economic growth, strengthen democratic institutions, and improve security, the statement said. ...

Ethiopia Launches Ethio-Kenya transmission line projet:

Ethiopian Electric Power on Friday signed a contract agreement with China Electric Power Equipment and Technology Ltd to construct the Ethio-Kenya transmission line project.The contract agreement came following the MoU signed between Ethiopia and Kenya in 2006 to interconnect the power systems of Ethiopia and Kenya with over 1000km power substation line. The project on the Ethiopian side is financed by a  a loan obtained from the African Development Bank.

The transmission line would cover 433 km stretch from Wolayita Sodo in Ethiopia to the Kenya border and will be finalized in 26 months, CEO of the Ethiopian Electric Power Engineer Azeb Asnake said. She added that the Ethio-Kenya power system interconnector with its bi-directional transfer capacity of 2000 megawatt is acknowledged and recognized to be the Eastern Electricity Highway.  The project is also believed to be the backbone to the regional power trade and has significance to the East African Power Pool.