Nation

THE STATES

Published

5 years ago

May 9, 2016

Governor Muhammadu Jibrillah of Adamawa (left), discussing with the Acting Managing Director, News Agency of Nigeria (Nan), Mr Jones Afolabi, during a courtesy visit to the Governor at the Government House, Dougirie Inyola recently

Adamawa
Governor Muhammadu Jibrilla of Adamawa has lauded
the Federal Government for its sustained support in tackling challenges posed by Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the state.
Jibrilla made the commendation in an interview with newsmen in Yola on Thursday.
Jibrilla said Adamawa could not have coped with the IDPs, particularly those being evacuated from neibouring countries that passed through the state transit camps, without the support of Federal Government’s agency like NEMA.
“Federal Government has also started doing something on infrastructure such as schools, police stations and places of worship.”

Borno
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, said the
Federal Government’s donation of relief materials would facilitate speedy return of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to their communities.
Buratai said this at the flag-off ceremony of the distribution of relief materials to IDPs in Maiduguri.
He said the gesture was also aimed at improving their standard of living as they resettled in their communities.
He said it was also part of the efforts of both the federal and state governments to quickly ameliorate the suffering of the people.
The Army Chief said that the initiative would also support the military activities in the liberated communities.

FCT
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development,
Chief Audu Ogbeh, has enjoined Nigerians, particularly the elites, to engage in agriculture to boost food production.
The minister made this call while speaking at the Sectoral Debate on strategies for diversification of the Nigerian economy organised by the House of Representatives.
Ogbeh said there was need for the country to adhere to the 10 per cent budgetary allocation to agriculture in line with Maputo Declaration.
“If Agriculture is to be restored to its days of glory in Nigeria, ýpeople from all strata of the society including the elite must be involved in line with the Maputo Declaration,’’ the minister said.

Lagos
A landlord, Segun Oye, who allegedly assaulted a fe
male tenant, Uche Elodinmuo, has appeared before a Surulere Magistrates’ Court in Lagos.
The accused, 49, who lives at No. 4, Ayo Davies Close, off Ekololu Street, Lagos, is facing a two-count charge bordering on assault.
The prosecutor, Insp. Gabriel Ekundayo, said the accused committed the offence at the same address at about 8.45 p.m. on April 19.
Ekundayo told the court that the complainant, Elodinmuo, reported the incident at Orile-Iganmu Police Station.
“The accused came and assaulted her in front of her room when she complained about her missing fuel in the compound.
“Other co-tenants have been complaining about missing fuel too, suspecting the gateman may be stealing the fuel to fill the landlord’s generator.”

Kano
The seven Kano State students and their driver who
died along Lagos-Ibadan expressway have been buried in Kano, amid tears.
The funeral prayer was conducted at the Emir’s Palace, Kano, around 9 a.m., and the deceased were buried at the Tarauni Graveyard.
Among those that attended the prayer were: Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, members of the state Executive Council, other top government officials as well as parents and sympathisers.
The funeral prayer was led by the Chief Imam of Kano, Prof. Sani Zahraddeen, who prayed God to grant the souls of the departed eternal rest and Jannatul Firdaus (The highest Paradise).
He also prayed God to give their families the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.
Kogi
The Kogi State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board said
that the Saudi Arabian Government had returned N24 million to it for services not rendered during the 2015 hajj.
The Chairman of the board, Alhaji Sadiq Muhammed Rabiu, who made this known during a courtesy call on the traditional ruler of Ayangba, Alhaji Shuaibu Okolp, said that the money would be shared among the 2015 pilgrims from the state.
He said that by the board’s calculation, each of the participants would receive N27,000.
According to him, the gesture from the Saudi government is a reflection of their entrenched culture of accountability and fairness.
On preparations for the 2016 hajj, Rabiu said that the board had secured accommodation near Kabba, to facilitate the performance of the basic rites while in holy land.

Nasarawa
The women wing of the Christian Association of
Nigeria (CAN), Nasarawa State chapter, has donated food and sanitary items to Maimuna Catha Orphanage Home in Lafia.
The chairperson of the association, Mrs. Lydia Attah, who delivered the items said that the gesture was the association’s modest contribution to demonstrate love, care and concern to the orphans.
“We want to give the orphans a sense of belonging; we want them to feel cared for,” she said.
Attah said that Christian women had an obligation to show love, stressing that assisting the less privileged in the society was in obedience to God’s teachings.
“The donation is part of the association’s commitment to cushioning the hardship being experienced by the orphans due to the death of their parents.

Ogun

The Police in Ogun docked two men: Waheed
Azeez,26, and Emmanuel Abolade,20, before an Ota Magistrates’ Court for allegedly assaulting one Adebesin Tunde by stabbing him with broken bottles.
The accused, whose addresses are unknown, are facing a two-count charge of assault and conspiracy.
The Prosecutor, Sgt Itaita Ebibomino, told the court that the accused and others still at large, committed the offences on April 3 at about 7:30 p.m. at Owode-Ijako Area of Ota.
Ebibomino said that the accused and his accomplices conspired among themselves to assault the complainant by stabbing him with broken bottles.
He said that the offences contravened Sections 355 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Ogun, 2006.
The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Ondo
The Executive Chairman of Ilaje Local Government of
Ondo State, Mr Agunola Omomowo, has advised his councilors to fulfill their electioneering promises.
He said that fulfillment of the promises would justify the confidence reposed in them by the electorate.
Our correspondent reports that the advice was given on Wednesday at the swearing-in ceremony of 12 elected councilors at the LGA in Igbokoda.
Omomowo also called for the co-operation of the executive arm of the local government and urged them to shun unnecessary misunderstanding.
He advised that peace should be the watchword rather than violence.

Oyo
The President of a Mapo Customary Court in Ibadan, Mr
Ademola Odunade, dissolved the three-year-old marriage between one Taiwo Akande and his wife, Shukurat, over persistent uttering of curses by the latter.
Odunade held that the court could only pacify parties to a dispute but could not enforce settlement.
“Since Akande, who is the head of the home has made up his mind to discontinue the union between him and Shukurat, the marriage has therefore ceased to exist,” the judge said.
He, however, awarded custody of the two and a half -year-old child produced by the union to Shukurat for proper care.
“Akande shall also pay a cash sum of N12,000 for Shukurat’s one-year house rent and another N3,000 to pack her belongings,” Odunade added.

Plateau

Workers of the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH)
have taken to the streets of Jos to protest what they called the “complete lack of basic facilities in the hospital”.
The workers, under the aegis of the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU), moved through most major streets of the city, chanting solidarity songs that urged the Federal Government to sack the Chief Medical Director (CMD), Prof. Edward Banwat.
Our correspondent reports that the workers, who have been on strike for more than two months, took to the streets saying the management could not address their grievances.
Mr Mustapha Kabir, an official of the union, alleged that the hospital lacked consumables, drugs and beds, while machines required for basic operation had all broken down.

Sokoto

Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State has inaugu
rated the Sokoto branch of Bank of Industry (BOI) and announced that the state has secured a N2 billion loan package.
The governor, who spoke at the inauguration of the branch, said that small and medium entrepreneurs would access the loan.
He said that the state government and the bank would contribute N1 billion each, adding that the programme was aimed at boosting small and medium scale businesses, as well as boost employment.
The governor challenged the beneficiaries to use the loan judiciously to enhance socio-economic development of the state.

Nation

Kidnapping Of Students, Ploy To Discourage Schooling In Nigeria – MSSN

Published

15 hours ago

July 26, 2021

The Tide

The Muslims Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) has said that the incessant kidnapping of students in some parts of the country was a strategy to discourage the pursuit of education.
MSSN National President, Malam Shehu Usman- Abubakar, said in a statement on Saturday, in Birnin Kebbi, that many students had withdrawn from school as a result of kidnapping.
He said that education was the major source of strength and power to every nation and community in the world.
“As kidnapping has started affecting schools, we, as members of MSSN, view it as an effort towards discouraging the pursuit of education, especially in educationally backward communities of the northern parts of the country.
“Therefore, more should be done to put a stop to that with all the might and urgency possible,’’ he said.
Usman-Abubakar urged governments at all levels to do more in ensuring the protection of lives and property of their citizens, saying that the rate of criminality in the country was alarming, especially banditry and kidnapping.
He, however, noted that security agencies had been doing a lot in combating insecurity in the country, while commending the Kebbi state government for its efforts in the immediate rescue of some of the kidnapped students of Federal Government College, Birnin Yauri.
“We urge other state governments affected to follow suit as set by Gov. Atiku Bagudu,” he said.
The MSSN president also urged Muslim faithful to return to Almighty God in repentance and be prayerful for a better Nigeria.

Nation

FG, UN Unveil Programme To Empower Youths

Published

15 hours ago

July 26, 2021

The Tide

The Federal Government of Nigeria is set to partner with the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) to empower 20 million Nigerian youths by 2030.
The initiative tagged: “Generation Unlimited” and set to be inaugurated today in Abuja, is targeted at 20 million persons between the ages of 10 and 24 out of the nation’s 65 million young people.
The Country Representative of UNICEF in Nigeria, Peter Hawkins, said this in an interview with newsmen in Abuja yesterday.
According to him, the initiative is also being replicated in many other countries with 1.8 billion young people targeted around the World.
With specific reference to Nigeria, Hawkins said that the Generation Unlimited programmes were aimed at developing the capacity of young Nigerians to be better positioned as leaders of tomorrow.
He said that if the youths were not equipped with the right skills, especially in view of the ongoing digitisation of the World, they would be unable to bring value to the future of Nigeria.
The UN representative added that such initiatives would also help in turning the youth away from drugs or crime.
“Nigeria has 65 million people between the ages of 10 and 24, so young people of Nigeria are more importantly the future. That generation would shape the future of Nigeria.
“What Generation Unlimited is trying to do is to first act as a platform between the government, the United Nations and the International Community and the private sector.
“Out of the 65 million young people, Generation Unlimited is trying to help 20 million of those over the next 10 years to step over the generation that they are in to be able to meet their own ambitions and be valuable commodities in Nigeria.
“What is going to define the future of any country, particularly Nigeria is the digital platform – access to data, access to digital information.
“It is not only expanding the digital platform but expanding young people’s access to that platform.
“There are initiatives like School-2-School connectivity, looking at how we can bring digital learning into the schools, communities and ensure that young peoples’ skills around digital platforms come to the fore,” he said.
He pointed out that other areas include education skills on the one hand and employability and entrepreneurship on the other hand.
Hawkins said that UNICEF was particularly focused on connection between the skills and opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship, trying to develop the skills that jobs require.
Hawkins added that the last part was engagement of the young people not only to understand what they want to do but also to create an environment where they are contributing to the future of this country as a voice.
“Already, over the past year, we have been engaging with 450,000 young people through different initiatives around the country.
“There is a massive prospect in this country to engage young people. So in summary, Generation Unlimited is trying to help 20 million young people to achieve skills and jobs with digital platform being the main conduit for many of these jobs and skills.
“On Monday, Nigeria’s Vice President will inaugurate the Generation Unlimited Nigeria, this is a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate a vision for the young people of Nigeria and give them the opportunity to engage in what happens in Nigeria in the future.
“There are many initiatives at the moment currently ongoing, especially around skills development, education a live skills learning.
“What we are trying to do at Generation Unlimited is to allow the platform of all of these to go to scale, using different initiatives to trigger off other initiatives to reach the 20 million that we want to reach in the next 10 years,” he said.
The UNICEF Representative listed some of its partners to include: GIZ, EU, USAID, Unilever, Microsoft, Tony Elumelu Foundation, and MasterCard, amomg others, adding that they were open for partnerships with institutions and the private sector.

Nation

PDP Tackles el-Rufai Over Insecurity, Insists Jonathan Resisted Insurgency

Published

16 hours ago

July 26, 2021

The Tide

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Emeka Kalu, has slammed the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, over comments on ex-President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan.
It would be recalled that El-Rufai had severally criticized Jonathan’s administration for being incompetent and weak in tackling terrorism.
The Kaduna governor also adduced that all the technical advice given to Jonathan was refused.
In a statement, yesterday, Kalu, a former governorship aspirant in Abia State, opined that under Jonathan, insurgency was resisted with all apparatus within the reach of the government to tackle the ugly trend.
He lamented that countless persons have lost their lives to herdsmen killings in the north and southern part of Nigeria while el-Rufai as the Chief Security Officer of Kaduna, with full confidence in Buhari-led government, is busy watching the atrocities while the perpetrators go unpunished as a result of ethnic sentiment.
Kalu queried, “What has he successfully put in action to contain the marauding and uncontrollable cases of kidnapping and banditry that had almost swept the entire nooks and crannies of Kaduna State or is he short of ideas now on how best to engage the criminals?
“Why has he not been able to apply those security tackling measures the technical committee that he was one of the members during Jonathan regime recommended to improve security situation in Kaduna State as the governor on seat?
The party chieftain, however, called on el-Rufai to stop playing politics with the deteriorating insecurity in the country, warning the governor and the Buhari-led All Progressives Congress to stop the mudslinging in politics, promote ethnic co operations and tolerance, as well as run inclusive government.
Parts of the statement said, “It is always easier to castigate a leader, find faults and apportion blames but when it gets to the doorstep of the fault finder, with all statutory power and resources to perform the same functions, the actor retires into his shelf as snail does.
“Instead, he would come up with a cheap propaganda that any person who killed a Fulani Man would have himself to blame. When interviewed for explanation, he said it was because Fulani are scattered in various parts of Africa and when you kill one in Nigeria, those in Sahara would come to say, you killed their fathers and brothers, then as result attack the locality in retaliation.
“Does this make any sense for a government that values the lives of her citizens? Why would the government condone criminals and give shot at side order in another part of the country to wipe away the people of that ethnic nationality in the pretext of fighting criminal. Are all criminals not the same or those from a given ethnic group are anointed not to be killed?
“The same expert on security intelligence as he claimed to be could not suggest how best to tackle bandits but with all velocity suggested how to treat and handle ethnic agitators who had not killed even an ant. This signifies the kind of government we run and expect the citizenry to wave banners of praises for us.
“Nigeria has a long way to go. Except we drop divided sentiment and nepotism, the journey would be farer for us; except the government eschews unnecessary cuddling of herdsmen with carrots hands by taking strict actions to stop their rampage and marauding activities, Nigeria will still be singing the same songs of sorrow instead of peace and unity.
“The formula is very simple. Stop mudslinging in politics, promote ethnic co-operations and tolerance, run inclusive government, drop revenge-oriented use of EFCC/DSS apparatus against party opponents, revive the dwindling economy, create jobs and employment using Federal Character Principles, open full resistance against bandits and all forms of terrorism, stop ethnic harassment of the southern Nigerian peaceful agitators, learn how to dialogue, work to restructure the fiscal federalism then Nigeria will become an ice in a hot water pot”.