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Church Urges More Education On Environmental Sanitation
President of Umuahia District of Nigeria of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, Lemmy Odoemelam, has called on the government at all levels to lay greater emphasis on enlightenment of the masses on the implications of living in a clean environment instead of focusing more attention on refuse clearing.
Speaking with The Tide Saturday during a clean up exercise carried out by Umuahia District members of the church at Apummiri Ubakala headquartes of Umuahia South Local Government Area of Abia State, Odoemelam also charged people to imbibe the habit of living in a clean environment and teach the younger ones the virtues of selfreliance.
Suggesting ways of evolving an enduring sanitation culture that would leave the environment sparkling at all times in the country, the Umuahia District President said:
“The government, first and foremost, will have to teach more of cleanliness; the need for people to live in a clean environment and not always embarking on contracts to clean the places for the people.
“For us, as individuals who are members of the society, we should always know that cleanliness is next to godliness and that we should learn to work for ourselves and then teach our children the principles of work. By so doing, one, they would learn to be selfreliant and, two, it will assist them in whatever endeavour they will embark upon in their future.”
He pointed out that a clean environment would have positive health, economic and social implications for the people.
The three-hour clean-up exercise which saw hundreds of members of the church cutting and weeding overgrown grasses and sweeping same; raking and picking up of dirt and clearing of accumulated refuse heaps inside and outside the council headquarters lasted from 8 – 11 am. It is an annual humanitarian service observed by the church throughout Africa.
“We embarked on this’assignment because it is a commandment from God that we should serve one another and the service we mean here is assisting our neighbour in doing that
he could not do for himself and annually the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the whole of Africa carries out this obligation,” Odoemelam volunteered, adding, “last year, we (Umuahia District) had it at Umuahia North LGA and we decided to come to Umuahia South this year.”
He explained that the essence of the humanitarian service, apart from practicalising “pure religion,” was aimed at impressing it upon the people that they should be partners in progress with the government.
“We want to teach people that we are partners in progress with the government. We are government. So we don’t wait for the government to do everything for us and as we do this (clean-up), it will assist in reducing the overhead cost in the running of the local government administration here. That is why we are here today,” he observed.
Assessing the impact of the exercise on residents of Umuahia over the years, Odoemelam said “by my reckoning, the impact so far observed is that the places we have done this projects before have taken a different shape like the Umuahia main town. Now, people have learnt to keep, most particularly the market area, clean always, knowing fully well that they can do that without waiting for the government. It is a matter of living in a clean environment, so they have learnt to do that. Second, it has helped to publicise the church because not everybody is aware of the church here.”
Flagging off the exercise, Chairman of Umuahia South, Pastor Goddy Kanu, represented by the Supervisor for Works, Chief Leonard Omenazu, said the council was overwhelmed by the kind gesture of the church.
“We were all happy, including the chairman. This shows that the churches around us show great concern for this local government area. We are very happy,” Omenazu said, urging other organsations and individuals to emulate the church in promoting environmental cleanliness which would impact positively on the health of the people.
Delegations from the Federal Government and Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) are expected to meet, today, in a bid to avert a fresh strike.
The chairmen of ASUU branches had expressed readiness to commence a fresh strike over the non-implementation of their agreement with FG on IPPIS.
One of them, Chairman, ASUU, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Dr Ibrahim Inuwa, said the protracted strike, which was to press home the union members’ demands for the continued survival of the public university system in Nigeria, was suspended in December after the two parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the various issues and providing timelines for the implementation of each of the eight items in the agreement.
Inuwa said over seven months after the MoU was signed only two out of the eight issues had been addressed.
He listed some of the outstanding issues to include payment of the earned academic allowance, funding for revitalisation of public universities, salary shortfall, proliferation of state universities and setting up of visitation panels.
Others are renegotiation, replacement of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) with the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) and withheld salaries and non-remittance of check-off dues.
A statement by the Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations at the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Mr. Charles Akpan, said the Minister of Labour, Senator Chris Ngige, will be hosting the leadership of the ASUU to a meeting at the ministry’s Conference Room, Federal Secretariat in Abuja.
“The Minister for Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, will be hosting a meeting with ASUU. The meeting is scheduled for Monday, August 2, 2021 at Minister’s Conference Room,” the letter read.
The National President, ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, had said that the union was invited by the Ministry of Labour to discuss issues surrounding the Memorandum of Action, which was signed with the Federal Government in December, 2020.
However, Osodeke, explained the last time the union met with the government was around March/April.
He said, “The Ministry of Education, which is our ministry, has not called us to any meeting since we signed the Memorandum of Action. But the Ministry of Labour, which is just an intervention ministry, around March/April called us to a meeting in which we discussed and they promised to implement all those things.”
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says 30 out of 65 private airplanes verified owe duties to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The Public Relations Officer, Joseph Attah, made the disclosure to newsmen, yesterday.
He said some of the airplanes came into the country by Temporary Importation Agreement which allows them in without payment because it was secured by bond.
The spokesman noted that many later fail to turn up to pay on the expiration of the agreement.
The customs explained that the verification was not meant to embarrass anyone but to collect payments due to the government.
The service has given another two-week extension which commenced from Monday, July 26, to Friday, August 6.
Attah said with the increasing economic challenge, every revenue is important.
“With this, you can now tie proper ownership to every aircraft or private jet that flies in and out of the country.
“The owners of private jets are highly placed Nigerians who should be respected and approached in a manner that provides convenience. That is what these extensions stand for,” he added.
The Police Service Commission (PSC) has suspended embattled Deputy Commissioner of Police and Head, Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Nigeria Police Force, Abba Kyari, from the exercise of the powers and functions of his office.
Kyari’s suspension was contained in a press statement by the commission’s Head, Press and Public Relations, Ikechukwu Ani, made available to newsmen, yesterday.
The commission said Abba Kyari’s suspension took effect from Saturday, July 31, 2021, and would subsist pending the outcome of the investigation in respect of his indictment by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States.
The commission has also directed the Inspector General of Police to furnish it with information on further development on the matter for necessary further action.
The commission’s decision which was conveyed in a letter with reference, PSC/POL/D/153/vol/V/138 to the Inspector General of Police today, Sunday, August 1st, 2021, was signed by Hon. Justice Clara Bata Ogunbiyi, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court and Honourable Commissioner 1 in the commission for the commission’s Chairman, Alhaji Musiliu Smith, a retired Inspector General of Police who is currently on leave.
Earlier, the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, had recommended the immediate suspension of DCP Abba Kyari from the service of the Nigeria Police Force, pending the report of the four-man investigative panel constituted to probe him.
A statement by the spokesperson of the Force, CP Frank MBA, last Saturday, the IGP, in his letter to the Police Service Commission (PSC), dated July 31, 2021, noted that the recommendation is in line with the internal disciplinary processes of the force.
According to the IGP, the suspension would also create an enabling environment for the NPF Special Investigation Panel, to carry out its investigations into the allegations against Kyari without interference.
He explained that the suspension is without prejudice to the constitutional presumption of innocence in favour of the officer, the statement said.
The four-man Special Investigation Panel (SIP), is headed by the Deputy Inspector General of Police in-charge of the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID), DIG Joseph Egbunike.
“The SIP is to undertake a detailed review of all the allegations against DCP Abba Kyari by the US Government as contained in relevant documents that have been availed the NPF by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
“The SIP is also to obtain detailed representation of DCP Abba Kyari to all the allegations levelled against him, conduct further investigations as it deems fit, and submit recommendations to guide further actions by the Force leadership on the matter,” Mba said.
Meanwhile, the IGP has reaffirmed the commitment of the force to the rule of law, and assured the public of the sanctity of the probe as well as the absolute respect for the rights and privileges of the officer throughout the period of the investigations.
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