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IMF, World Bank Must End Colonial Rule, Says ActionAid

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IMF, World Bank Must End Colonial Rule, Says ActionAid

By: Michael Mike

ActionAid has said the time is up for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to stop perpetuating a colonial rule on the world.

The call was made at the weekend as the two global financial institutions conclude their Spring meetings in Washington DC this week.

ActionAid, in the statement said for the last 80 years the IMF and World Bank have been in existence, not much has changed as global South countries have been pushed further into debt and are reeling from the impacts of IMF-imposed austerity measures.

In its 2023 report Fifty Years of Failure, ActionAid found that despite following the IMF’s advice for decades, many African countries are in debt distress or facing a high risk of debt distress. Austerity measures have blocked the recruitment of teachers, doctors and nurses, even in countries with severe shortages, and has squeezed public sector salaries at a time of a rising cost of living.

Global Lead on Economic Justice and Public Services at ActionAid International, Roos Saalbrink, said:“Countries in the global South have since the structural adjustment progammes been in perpetual austerity, eroding public health and education. At a time of unprecedented climate crisis and debt crisis in the global South, the Bretton Woods Institutions continue to oil the wheels of colonial exploitation and extraction. At the same time global South governments have very little say in the policies coming from these institutions at the centre of the international financial architecture. 80 years is enough.”

The statement said ActionAid is also concerned about a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ which has ensured that the IMF managing director has for 80 years been European and the World Bank president a US national.

Country Director of ActionAid USA, Niranjali Amerasinghe, said: “Kristalina Georgieva’s appointment is a continuation of the colonial era ‘gentleman’s agreement’, where rich western powers have the most say. It is unacceptable that 80 years later we are still having to call this out. The IMF must change its leadership selection process, its decision-making model, and the harmful practices that keep developing countries in a cycle of crisis.

“As the climate crisis wreaks havoc, global South countries are so deep in debt that they cannot adapt to these impacts. We are calling for debt cancellation and tax justice to help these countries free up the finances needed to build resilience to climate impacts.

“We need to see an overhaul of the international financial architecture with a proper debt workout mechanism, a UN tax convention, to ensure global South governments have a say over policies impacting them disproportionately.”

ActionAid is a global federation working with more than 41 million people living in more than 71 of the world’s poorest countries, the organisation wants to see a just, fair, and sustainable world, in which everybody enjoys the right to a life of dignity, and freedom from poverty and oppression. We work to achieve social justice and gender equality and to eradicate poverty.

IMF, World Bank Must End Colonial Rule, Says ActionAid

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Police arrest two armed suspects in kaduna, recover pistol

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Police arrest two armed suspects in kaduna, recover pistol

By: Our Reporter

The Kaduna State Police Command has arrested two suspected armed men and recovered a pistol with live ammunition in Kabala West area of Kaduna metropolis.

Sources said that the suspects was apprehended by police lice patrol team at about 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 15.

He explained that the patrol team, led by ASP Paul Rikici of Kabala West Division, stopped the suspects while they were riding a black TVS motorcycle close to a bridge at Unguwan Mu’azu along the Kaduna bypass expressway.

“Upon search, a Mackrove 9mm pistol loaded with three live rounds of ammunition was recovered from the suspects,” he said.

The suspects, identified as Ibrahim Hassan, 19, of Layin Pampo, and Usman Abubakar, 21, of Unguwan Dankali, Zaria, were immediately arrested and are currently in custody.

Sources added that the case would be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for further investigation.

Police arrest two armed suspects in kaduna, recover pistol

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Despite peace deal, bandits strike again, abduct passengers including student in katsina

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Despite peace deal, bandits strike again, abduct passengers including student in katsina

By: Zagazola Makama

Suspected bandits have abducted passengers travelling along Wawal Kaza–Dayi road in Kankara Local Government Area of Katsina State, despite ongoing peace efforts in the state.

Zagazola Makama gathered that the incident occurred at about 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 16, when the hoodlums blocked a Sharoon vehicle conveying commuters from Zaria to Dutsinma.

Among those abducted were two 300-level students of Federal University Dutsin-Ma, identified as Onwe Esther Chiamaka and Noah Patience, both from the Department of Sociology. Also kidnapped was a male student, Goza Darios Doorchuji, of the Library Science Department.

On receiving a distress, security forces were promptly mobilized to scene, The area was cordoned off and during the operation, Doorchuji was rescued unhurt.

“Efforts are ongoing to ensure the safe release of the two female students and to apprehend the perpetrators,”said security sources.

The incident comes despite renewed peace deals and assurances by authorities aimed at ending banditry in Katsina and other parts of the North-West.

Despite peace deal, bandits strike again, abduct passengers including student in katsina

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Buni urges NIMC to redouble efforts on registration in Yobe

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Buni urges NIMC to redouble efforts on registration in Yobe

By: Yahaya Wakili

Governor Mai Mala Buni CON of Yobe State has advised the management and staff of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to redouble their efforts and ensure that Nigeria has an authentic and reliable registration database.

He also called on the NIMC to monitor their database while issuing national identification numbers to citizens and legal residents to affirm their identity.

The governor gave the advice when he received the management team of NIMC as part of their celebration to mark NIN Day 2025 at the Government House, Damaturu, the state capital.

Ably represented by his deputy, Hon. Idi Barde Gubana (Wazirin Fune). He said the national identity number is a single, unique number that identifies persons for life, serving as the most authentic way to verify a person’s identity.

Governor Buni emphasized the need for full registration of legal residents so as to have an accurate Nigerian population and enable Nigerians to have access to essential services.

Speaking earlier, the state coordinator of NIMC Yobe State, Mr. Zaman Yaksha, informed the governor that 16 September of every year has been set aside to celebrate and create awareness on the importance of national identification registration.

Mr. Yaksha revealed that recently there were directives from the presidency that all Nigerians must register with NIMC irrespective of their age.

He commended the Yobe state government for the full support given to the commission in the discharge of its duty.

Buni urges NIMC to redouble efforts on registration in Yobe

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