News
NAFDAC shuts down two Enugu factories as crackdown on sachet alcohol begins
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has sealed two factories for producing 100-millilitre plastic alcoholic beverages and lack of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) in Enugu State.
NAFDAC enforcement operatives had focused on raiding seven marked alcoholic beverage factories in two days within the state – four factories in the Nsukka axis and three in the Enugu axis.
In the Nsukka axis, two factories were sealed, in another factory its workers ran away on sighting NAFDAC enforcement officers and the last factory was yet to start production. In the Enugu axis, two of the factories sought were not in existence and the remaining one relocated from its known neighbourhood within the metropolis.
The leader of the NAFDAC enforcement team, Wafar Elam, decried the negative effects of irresponsible alcoholic beverage consumption on the health, safety and security of the public.
Elam, an official of the Investigative and Enforcement Directorate of NAFDAC (covering South-South and South-East), said that the relative ease and affordability of the small alcoholic beverage and its pocket-size nature had made some school children abuse the beverage at will.
According to him, uncontrolled access and availability of highly concentrated alcohol in sachets and small volume or glass bottles had been put forward as a factor contributing to substance and alcohol abuse in Nigeria with its negative impact on society.
He explained that the consumption of alcoholic beverages could lead to renal (or kidney) failure and all sorts of cancer as well as respiratory tract infections.
“We are here to take action and enforce the ban on the production of alcoholic drinks in sachets, small volumes of plastic and glass bottles below 200 millilitres.
“During the raid, it was discovered that some factories had finished products, while others still have packaging materials in their possession,” he said.
Elam said that the raid followed the expiration of the deadline earlier given by NAFDAC for the ban on the production of alcoholic drinks in sachets, small-volume glasses and bottles across the country.
He said: “The body (NAFDAC) had in 2018, directed the stoppage of production or sale of all alcoholic drinks in sachets, small volume glasses and bottles by the end of December 2023.
“This followed the recommendation of a committee comprising the Federal Ministry of Health, NAFDAC and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and Industry in December 2018.
“The committee premised its arguments on the fact that the rate at which the underaged population has access to alcohol was quite alarming because the manufacturers of the products make it accessible and affordable to everyone.
“It argued that due to its availability in sachets, many people are exposed to drinking too much alcoholic beverage at an early stage in life. As a result, underaged drinking has become a major public health problem in the country.”
News
Lagos police spokesman Benjamin Hundeyin promoted to CSP
Public Relations Officer of Lagos State Police Command, Benjamin Hundeyin, has been promoted to Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Hundeyin took over from Adekunle Ajisebutu as Lagos police spokesman in 2022 while he was Superintendent of Police (SP).
On Wednesday, he shared photos of himself being decorated by Lagos police commissioner, Ishola Olawale.
“Behold the latest Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) in town. It is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes,” Hundeyin wrote on X.
Hundeyin holds a BA (Hons) in English Language from the Lagos State University and an MSc in Legal Criminology and Security Psychology from the University of Ibadan.
He also holds a certificate in Civil-Military Coordination from the Martin Luther Agwai International Leadership and Peacekeeping Training Centre, Jaji, Kaduna.
He is an associate of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), member of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) and an associate of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM).
Hundeyin was a one-time PPRO at the Zone 2 Command Headquarters, Onikan, Lagos and was a member of the Nigerian contingent to the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Darfur, Sudan (UNAMID) in 2020.
He was the administration officer at the Force Public Relations Department, Force Headquarters, Abuja.
News
‘I am currently at my home in Onitsha’ — Obi debunks rumoured arrest in Abuja
Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party in 2023, has denied the recent rumour that he has been arrested in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
On Tuesday, some social media users claimed that Obi was purportedly arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services in Abuja.
In a statement published on his X handle on Wednesday, Obi condemned the “recurrently fake news” about his purported arrest by security operatives.
The former Anambra governor said he is currently at his residence in Onitsha, adding the motive of the fake news merchants cannot be positive.
“I have been made aware of a circulating fake news about my alleged arrest. Let me state unequivocally that these claims are entirely false,” Obi said.
“I am currently at my home in Onitsha. Anambra State. Such fake News on my person has become a pastime for some people.
“Recall last year September, when I was in Rwanda, similar lies had gone out that DSS invaded my house; now, while I was in my home in Onitsha, Anambra State, they said I was arrested in Abuja.”
“The motive of these peddlers cannot be positive but let us not allow baseless rumors to distract us from the critical challenges we face as a nation.”
News
OpenAI chief, Sam Altman, debunks sister’s sexual abuse accusations
Open AI CEO Sam Altman on Tuesday denied allegations from his sister Annie Altman, who has filed a complaint accusing him of childhood sexual abuse.
“…Annie has made deeply hurtful and entirely untrue claims about our family, especially Sam,” the boss of the California startup said in a letter co-signed by his mother and two brothers, and published on social platform X.
“Our family loves Annie and is very concerned about her well-being. Caring for a family member who faces mental health challenges is incredibly difficult,” they wrote.
One of Silicon Valley’s more charismatic figures, Altman shot to global fame with the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, which ignited a race to advance AI research and development.
A prolific entrepreneur and already a billionaire, Altman, 39, has set himself the mission of developing a so-called “general” AI, with cognitive abilities similar to those of humans and which “benefits all of humanity”.
The Altman family said that they have tried to help their daughter and sister, covering her expenses and guaranteeing her “monthly financial support, which we expect to continue for the rest of her life”.
“Despite this, Annie continues to demand more money from us,” they said, pointing out that they have decided to respond publicly following Anne’s legal complaint filed on Monday, and after years of tension.
“The worst allegation she has made is that she was sexually abused by Sam as a child,” said the family.
“Her claims have evolved drastically over time. Newly for this lawsuit, they now include allegations of incidents where Sam was over 18.
“All these claims are utterly untrue.”
According to the complaint, Annie — who is nine years younger than Sam Altman — alleges the assaults took place from 1997, when she was three, until 2006.
In a report for New York Magazine in 2023, a journalist who met Annie in Hawaii described her as an artist suffering from depression and the growing rift with her family and supporting herself mainly through online sex work.
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