Senate President Bukola Saraki (left) welcoming the British High Commissioner, Mr Andrew Pocock who paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja last Friday .With them are Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu (2nd left) and Sen. Dino Melaye.

Benue
Some farmers in Benue State have urged the state gov
ernment to establish marketing boards in order to check excesses of middlemen who buy off their farm produce.
They told  newsmen in Makurdi that they are suffering in the hands of such middlemen, who offer them peanuts for their produce.
A rice farmer, Mr Bernard Yuhe, said such marketing boards would help curtail the excesses of middlemen who were bent on short-changing farmers.
He noted that the activities of middlemen had discouraged farmers from embarking on large scale farming because they were not getting the desired monetary value for their farm produce.
Mrs Cecilia Atim, a groundnut farmer, said they faced enormous challenges in the hands of middlemen, who buy off their produce to re-sell to major marketers outside the communities.
Borno

The National Emergency Management Agency
(NEMA) said on Thursday that it had commenced distribution of drugs in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Maiduguri.
The agency said this was part of its efforts to enhance the living conditions of the displaced persons.
The NEMA Information Officer in the North-East, Mallam Abdulkadir Ibrahim, said this in a statement in Maiduguri.
Ibrahim said that the Zonal Coordinator of the agency, Alhaji Mohammed Kanar, conducted the distribution of the items in all the 22 IDPs camps in Maiduguri, on behalf of the Director-General, Alhaji Mohammed Sidi.
Ibrahim said that NEMA was also collaborating with Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and other stakeholders to ensure adequate welfare for IDPs.

FCT
The Prisoners’ Rehabilitation and Welfare Action
(PRAWA), an NGO, has called for proper rehabilitation and empowerment of prison inmates in order to evolve a better and safer society.
The Executive Director of PRAWA, Mrs Uju Agomoh, made the call in an interview with  newsmen in Abuja.
Agomoh, who decried prison congestion in Nigeria, stressed the need for the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) to do more in prison de-congestion by rehabilitating inmates in line with international best practice.
She called for the expansion and upgrading of the NPS vocational skills acquisition programme for inmates so as to serve as a source of empowerment for them.
She said apart from the rehabilitation of inmates, there should be adequate focus on training and capacity building for prison officials, police officers and other stakeholders in the criminal justice sector.

Jigawa
The Fulbe-Fulako Association of Nigeria, a Fulani so
cial group, said on Wednesday that it had concluded arrangements to plant 2.5 million neem seedlings to combat desertification in Jigawa.
Alhaji Y’au Muhammad, the National Vice Chairman of the association, made this known while briefing newsmen on the activities of the association in Dutse.
Muhammad said the exercise would be conducted in all nomadic settlements across the 27 local government areas of the state, adding that the initiative was part of the association’s corporate social responsibility in the state.
He said the association would employ casual workers from among nomadic children to be responsible for the growth of the seedlings.

Kaduna
A total of 114 condemned inmates at Kaduna Central
Prison, the Controller, Mr Abubakar Garba, said in Kaduna.
Garba made the disclosure when Governor Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna State visited the prison at the instance of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The controller said that 11 of the condemned inmates, including a woman, were from Kaduna State.
He, however, appealed to the governor to commute the death sentence of the 11 inmates to life imprisonment in line with section 212 of the Constitution.
The controller expressed concern that over 800 out of the 1,000 inmates were awaiting trial at the prison constructed since 1915 meant for only 547 prisoners.

Lagos
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State has said
that the policy thrust of his administration would be centered on community development.
Ambode, represented by his Deputy, Dr Oluranti Adebule, made this known at the Lagos House, Alausa during a meeting with members of the Neighbourhood Watch and Community Development Committees (CDC) in the state.
He said that his administration would give back government to the communities.
The Governor also appreciated the contributions of the Neighbourhood Watch members to the maintenance of law and order in the communities.
He said that there was need for them to embark on self-appraisal in order to ensure that the members live up to the expectations of the public.

Nasarawa
Chief Judge of Nasarawa State, Suleiman Dikko, has
appealed to Governor Umaru Al-Makura to give urgent attention to the welfare of retired judges in the State.
Dikko made the appeal at a Valedictory Special Court Session in honour of retired and late superior judges in the state.
Dikko added that the welfare of judiciary staff would not have been a problem if the judicial arm of the government in the state was given financial autonomy.
He, however, promised to put machinery in place to reposition the judiciary in order to ensure speedy administration of justice in the state.
Chairman of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Lafia Branch, Mr Gabriel Akaka, prayed for the retirees and wished them well in their future endeavours.

Ondo
Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State has re
iterated his administration’s commitment to ensure environmental protection and cleanliness in the state.
Mimiko stated this while speaking with newsmen after a road walk to celebrate the World Environment Day (WED) with the state executive members in Akure.
The road walk began from Government House in Alagbaka en route Oba Adesida road and terminated at the Cathedral junction in the state.
The governor said that his administration would ensure that Akure, the Ondo State capital, remained the cleanest city in the country.
He said that the road walk became important to sensitise the people on the need to keep their environment clean and protect it, especially major roads and streets.
Mimiko further commended the Commissioner for Environment, Mr Sola Ebiseni, and his team for their commitment to the sustainability of the cleanliness of Akure and other towns in the state.
Oyo
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)
in a combined six hours joint operation has raided and destroyed 24 hectares of cannabis plantation in Oyo state.
The joint operation was conducted by operatives from the NDLEA, the Nigeria Police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
Others were the Department of State Security Services (DSS), the Oyo State Ministries of Natural Resources and Forest Reserve.
The operatives invaded and destroyed the illicit plantation at Seriki Centre of the Gambari Forest Reserve.
The NDLEA’s state Commander, Mrs Faboyede Omolade, described the operation as a major break through which would greatly impact on the fight against drug abuse.
Omolade said: “By June 28, the NDLEA will observe the United Nations Day Against Illicit Trafficking and Drug Abuse.
Plateau
A don of the University of Jos, Prof. Chikaike Ogbonna
of the Department of Community Medicine, University of Jos, has advised poultry farm owners to keep their environments clean to avoid the spread of Zoonotic.
Speaking at the 70th inaugural lecture of the University he said that Zoonoses were age long threats to human existence.
According to him, Zoonotic are diseases that are naturally and primarily transmissible from animal to humans.
The don said human beings who were in contact with animals on a daily basis were prone to the disease.
Ogbonna noted particularly that poultry farms in Nigeria were indiscriminately and widely spread both in rural and urban communities.
He said those engaged in this business have little or no knowledge on skills for bio-safety, saying that this was reason Avian Influenza had become one of the deadliest pandemic in human history.

Taraba

Some Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Mutum-
Biyu, Taraba State, have called on the Federal and State Government to provide security for them to return home.
Malam Yusuf Akata, the spokesperson of the IDPs, told newsmen in Mutum-Biyu, near Jalingo, that they were tired of staying in the camp.
Akata said more than 2,500 people were forced out of Wukari in January. 2014, following series of attacks on the town.
He said life was increasingly becoming unbearable for them due to lack of basic facilities at the camp.
Akata also said that their children had been out of school for more than a year, adding that they had lost many of their relations to common illness due to lack of access to medical care.