RayTec Trust Nigeria

On Wednesday last week, May 24, Governor of Katsina State Aminu Bello Masari signed into law an amendment to the Penal Code that prescribes death sentence for anyone convicted of kidnapping or cattle rustling in Katsina State. It also provides a mandatory life sentence, fine and compensation to the victim for anyone convicted of rape in the state.  The move was not surprising because in recent times insecurity in Katsina State is threatening to surpass the level in its western neighbor, Zamfara. Speaking at the brief ceremony where he signed the Amended Penal Code and Administration of Criminal Justice bills, Masari said the state was faced with security challenges, hence the need to revisit the Penal Code and procedure laws to deal with anyone who commits these grave offences.  He said, “The two laws that have been signed today, particularly the Penal Code, has been amended generally and in particular the sections dealing with kidnapping, cattle rustling, rape and other related offenc...

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and 29 state capitals across the country are agog this morning for the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, 29 state governors and their deputies for another four-year term in office. In spite of pending court cases and misgivings by politicians who lost out in the February and March elections, May 29, since 1999, has been remarkable in the political history of Nigeria. This day, every four years, provides an opportunity for a new beginning on the part of elected political leaders and a ray of hope for the people who may have been distraught with the abysmal performance of governments in the outgoing era. The Federal Government has announced that this year’s inauguration would be low-keyed, especially as the country’s Democracy Day has been shifted to June 12. It is a wise decision that government does not conduct the inauguration with fanfare, considering the fact that the nation is bedevilled by all sorts of vic...

Social Media And The English Language By Reuben Abati I get confused these days reading many of the posts on social media, and text messages sent through cell phones, because of the kind of new English that young people now write. The English language is without doubt quite dynamic. In the last 200 years, it has lent itself to many innovations, as cultural, religious, and situational codes have transformed the language and extended the dictionary, with new words and idioms. The kind of new English being written by twitter and what’s app users, particularly young people is however so frightening and lamentable, because it is beginning to creep into regular writing. Texting and tweeting is producing a generation of users of English, (it is worse that they are using English as a second language), who cannot write grammatically successful sentences. I was privileged to go through some applications that some young graduates submitted for job openings recently and I was scared. This new gro...