Nation
THE STATES
Adamawa
Rep.Adamu Kamale of Madagali/Michika Federal Con
stituency has said that Madagali Local Government Area is the worst affected by insurgency in the state.
Kamale told newsmen in Yola that Madagali was now a ghost of its former self and needed urgent government attention, particularly in areas of security and relief supply.
He lauded the effort of the Presidential Committee on North East and other intervention groups for their effort in rebuilding areas affected in Adamawa, and called for priority to be given to Madagali.
The lawmaker said that sufficient funding was being expected in 2017 budget for rehabilitation and reconstruction work in North East.
Bauchi
The National President, Association of Muslim Pro
fessionals (AMP), Alhaji Zakariya Ajiboye, has advocated extending membership to non member states in order to impact positively on the larger community of the Muslims.
Ajiboye said this during the association’s 3rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Bauchi.
He said that through expansion of chapters, more professionals would be captured on the platform, adding that this would aid the association towards spreading the knowledge of Allah.
It also agreed that Rivers and Edo states in the South as well as Lagos in the Western region would work towards achieving this extension of membership.
Borno
Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State has called
for prosecution of persons who allegedly diverted 50 bags of rice meant for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the state.
Shettima gave the directive in a statement by his spokesman, Malam Isa Gusau, in Maiduguri.
The directive followed reports that hundreds of IDPs apprehended some officials of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency for alleged theft of food stuff meant for their upkeep.
”Four officials were said to have been arrested by the police after IDPs held them.’’
Ekiti
A housewife, Mrs Olabosede Oke, has prayed an Ado-
Ekiti Customary Court to dissolve her 20-year-old marriage over alleged constant beating by her husband.
Forty-two-year –old Olabosede, a resident of Odo-Ado, Ado-Ekiti, told the court that her husband, Segun, beat her each time she requested for feeding allowance.
She also said that Segun was not interested in the welfare of their six children.
Responding, Segun denied the allegations, saying that he had never beaten his wife.
FCT
The National Council of Women’s Societies has congratulated its own, Mrs Amina Mohammed, who was appointed the new Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations.
The statement signed by the NCWS National President, Mrs Gloria Shoda, said Mohammed’s appointment should not come as a surprise to people who know her worth.
The council indicated that the appointee possesses inherent capabilities to see her through the new responsibility, adding that her record of impeccable and meritorious service to Nigeria and the United Nations also stands her out.
Shoda said that the development was a reaffirmation of the global community’s confidence in Nigeria and its commitment to enhancing the status of the female gender.
Jigawa
The Jigawa State Government says it has earmarked
N14 million for the conduct of the 31st Qur’anic Recitation Competition in the state.
The Executive Secretary, Islamic Education Bureau, Dr Yakubu Abbas, disclosed this at the opening ceremony of the competition in Dutse.
Abbas said that the exercise was organised by the Jigawa State Ministry of Education.
He explained that 324 students were currently participating in the competition.
Kaduna
General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division, Enugu,
Maj-General Adamu Babayo-Abubakar has said that the Nigerian Army will continue its high academic standard in all its institutions across the country.
Babayo-Abubakar said this in an interview with journalists shortly after he represented the Chief of Army Staff at the 75 Regular Recruits Passing Out Parade at the Depot Nigerian Army, Zaria, Kaduna State.
The GOC said: “We in the Army, have zero tolerance for indiscipline, just as you can see, here in the depot, those that we felt have not met up with our standard by way of deeds, discipline and character are shown the way out.
On insurgency in the North-East, Babayo-Abubakar said that the Army was doing very well in collaboration with neighbouring countries like Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
Kano
The Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corrup
tion Commission, has recovered more than N1.150 billion cash, movable and immovable property between 2015 and 2016.
The Executive Chairman, Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission, Malam Muhuyi Rimingado disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Abuja.
Rimingado said the commission has recovered several moveable and immovable property located in different parts of the state, adding that many individuals are under investigation by the commission.
According to him, the commission had received more than 1,486 complaints this year on different aspects of life that involve corruption, contractual and marital disputes.
Kogi
Kogi State Coordinator of Small Scale Women Farmers
Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON) Hajia Safiya Yahaya, has urged the Federal Government to provide adequate security to check raping and killing of women farmers by herdsmen and militants.
Yahaya, who made the call at the 2016 Annual Women Farmers Forum in Lokoja, said there was need for government to ensure security as well as provide trauma healing programmes for women farmers in crisis affected areas.
She said that the call had become necessary now because, “any moment from now the Anchor Borrowers Programme will start but what has the government done to address the menace of herdsmen who rape and kill our women on the farms.”
Kwara
An lslamic Cleric, Shekh Muritala Agaka, has advised Nige
rians to be more prayerful so that the nation could overcome the economic recession currently being experienced in the country.
Agaka gave this advice while delivering a lecture at the Maoulud Nabbiy for Prophet Mohammed organised by Nuru Shuadahi Society of Nigeria in llorin.
The event, which took place at Salman Saruq Onilu Mosque in Oko-erin, featured special prayers for the nation, sermons and rendition of various lslamic songs.
He urged Nigerians regardless of religious inclinations, tribe or ethnicity to further intensify prayers for the country to overcome its problems.
Lagos
No fewer than 25 industrial unions have elected Mr Joe
Ajaero as President of a new labour centre, United Labour Congress (ULC).
The unions elected Ajaero, the general secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), at the ULC maiden delegates conference in Lagos.
The new labour centre emerged after a two-year internal crisis that split the Nigeria Labour Congress.
Ajaero, who was elected unopposed, said that ULC would fight for the interest of workers and ensure a more equitable Nigeria where workers’ dignity and the work place would become less prone to impunity.
Nasarawa
A member representing Doma South Constituency in the
Nasarawa State House of Assembly, Mr James Dangana, has distributed clothing materials worth N1.8 million to his constituents for Christmas/New Year celebration.
Dangana (APC), who is also the chairman, House Committee on Information, said the gesture was to assist the people celebrate the two festivals.
According to him, giving arm to the people will go a long way in improving their standard of living during and after they yuletide for the overall development of the communities.
He also said that 20 cows had been bought to be slaughtered and distributed for the enjoyment of the communities during the period.
Niger
The Inspector-General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, has as
sured Nigerians of adequate security before, during and after the Christmas and New Year festivities.
Idris spoke at the 8th annual Nupe Day celebration in Bida, headquarters of Bida Local Government area of Niger.
He said that already, operational order had been issued to the commissioners of police in the 36 states and FCT on how to provide protection for the citizenry during the period.
The I-G urged Nigerians to assist the police with necessary information that would help in checkmating crime during the celebrations.
Osun
Osun State Chief Judge, Justice Oyebola Ojo, has freed 16
inmates of both Ile-Ife Prisons and Ilesa Prisons awaiting trial.
Three inmates regained freedom at the Ile-Ife Prisons while 13 inmates from the Ilesa Prisons on grounds of overstaying in prisons, ill-health and minor offences.
The released inmates from Ilesa Prisons were Monday Effiong, Tunde Olalekan, Adekunle Idowu, Abu Bello, Gbenga Aroko, Lateef Bamidele and Raphael Akinlabi, 80-year-old Oyedeji Aisha, Ezekiel Igwe, Adebare Monsuratu, Aliu Ishaka and Samuel Olaoye.
Oyo
An early morning fire outbreak has razed some parts of
Araromi Market at Agodi Gate, Ibadan, where used tyres and motor parts worth over N10 million were destroyed.
Mr Abdul Azeez Ojo, Chairman of the market, said that the inferno began at about 5.30 a.m. last Sunday.
According to him, the Fire Service was alerted and they responded promptly.
Ojo, however, said a sizeable number of shops equipped with tyres and other goods were razed before the arrival of the fire fighters at about 6 a.m.
The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), has urged the national assembly to expedite action on passage of the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Bill 2021.
The Secretary-General of NUT, Dr Mike Ike-Ene, made the appeal in an interview with The Tide yesterday in Abuja.
He said the passage of the bill and its eventual signing into law by the President would go a long way in giving teachers the hope that their profession was being given the needed attention.
Ike-Ene said the hope of passage of the bill on June 30, having been mentioned on the Order Paper, was dashed because of the controversy that followed the debate on the Petroleum Industry Bill, now an Act.
“We are expecting that as the national assembly has resumed, the bill will be one of the first few bills to be passed.
“We expected the bill to be passed on June 30 concurrently by the two houses having been mentioned on the Order Paper but the debate of the Petroleum Industry Act and debate of the Electoral Reform Bill took the day.’’
The Secretary-General commended the National Assembly for its commitment to ensuring conclusion of work on the bill.
He expressed optimism that when passed, President Buhari would not hesitate in signing it into law.
He thanked the President for the effort to reposition the teaching profession, saying the union had been in the forefront in the struggle for elongation of tenure for teachers, among other things.
According to him, we have actually been fighting for some of the things the President promised to do for teachers, for instance, the elongation of years.
“We have been agitating for 65 years retirement age or 40 years by service and one of the reasons for the agitation is that we discovered that about 26 states did not recruit a single teacher for over 20 years.
“Yet teachers were retiring in their dozens, in hundreds and more deaths were being recorded as a result of the growing insecurity, particularly in schools.
“Some died naturally, others were resigning, yet teachers were not being employed.”
He further said, “We have also been agitating for Teachers Special Salary Structure (TSS) but hazard allowance was granted instead.
“The hazard allowance accumulated to 27.5 per cent of the basic of teachers’ salaries which were not what we were agitating for.
“We thank God that the Buhari’s administration has promised to implement the TSS and since that pronouncement, NUT, government and other stakeholders have been working to ensure implementation.’’
Ike-Ene disclosed that the promise made to teachers by the president would be implemented at different levels, stressing that while some would be passed into law, others would be implemented as policies.
President Muhammadu Buhari had in June, transmitted a letter on a Bill to increase the retirement age for teachers from 60 years to 65 years.
The Bill also seeks to extend the years of service for teachers from 35years to 40 years.
Meanwhile, the president at the commemoration of the World Teachers Day on October 5, 2020, approved a special salary scale for teachers and special pension scheme.
He also said the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) will begin to fund teaching practice in universities and colleges of education.
He further promised to ensure provisions for rural posting allowance, science teachers allowance and peculiar allowance.
The president also promised sponsorship of at least one refresher training, construction of low-cost housing for teachers in rural areas and reintroduction of bursary award.
Other promises are, expansion of the annual Presidential Teachers and Schools Awards and payment of stipends to Bachelor of Education students and automatic employment after graduation.
The Federal Government is collaborating with Ogun State Government to secure the Right of Way (RoW) for the construction of three bridges and an interchange on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, said this during an inspection of the highway last Wednesday.
Fashola, who was joined by Gov. Dapo Abiodun at the Lotto Bridge under construction, said the highway accommodated over 40,000 vehicles daily, hence the urgent need for additional flyovers and interchanges for decongestion.
The bridges are under construction at Makun, MFM and Lotto (Mowe) areas on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
“We are trying to execute an interchange that will separate the main carriageway and give commuters choice, especially those going to religious places to worship, those going to universities and so on and so forth.
“So that what used to cause the congestion is limited to the barest minimum if not totally eradicated when the road is finished.
“So, we now require additional land to build the interchange, that is why I called the governor (Dapo Abiodun),” he said.
He said that the Buhari administration inherited several stalled projects which he was committed to completing by adequately funding the projects
Fashola expressed satisfaction with progress of work on the ongoing reconstruction/rehabilitation of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
On his part, Gov. Abiodun assured that the state government would give all the land and support needed.
Earlier, the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos, Mr Olukayode Popoola, gave the measurements and dimensions needed for the bridges and interchange.
Popoola also gave details on the number of buildings and services on the Right of Way of the bridges which, without paying compensations, would stall the project.
He said that section one of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway project, which spans from Ojota in Lagos to Sagamu Interchange, “has achieved 56 per cent completion”.
Also, during inspection of section two of the project, which spans from the Sagamu Interchange to Ojoo in Ibadan, the Federal Controller of Works in Ogun, Mr Umar Bakare, said that the section was 63 per cent completed.
North-East Development Commission (NEDC) in collaboration with the Bauchi State Government has commenced the construction of 500 mass housing units in Bauchi, to address housing deficit in the state.
NEDC’s Managing Director, Alhaji Mohammed Goni-Alkali, stated this at the ground breaking ceremony of the project yesterday in Bauchi.
Goni-Alkali said that 300 houses would be built in Bauchi metropolis while 200 others would be spread across the 20 local government areas of the state.
According to him, the project is to ease the accommodation problems as well as fast track the rapid social and economic development of the state, to mitigate the devastation caused by the insurgency.
Goni-Alkali said that the commission had so far constructed 1,000 housing units in Marte LGA of Borno, adding that the houses had been handed over to the state government.
He said that the commission would also construct one primary school in each of the senatorial districts across the six states in the region, to promote educational development.
The managing director said that the commission had presented food and non-food items to the Bauchi State Government for distribution to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
He listed the items to include 10,000 bags of rice; 2,000 bags of sugar; 10,000 gallons of palm oil; 3,000 cartons of pasta; 2,000 blankets; 2,000 plastic mats and 1,000 mosquito nets.
In his remarks, Gov. Bala Mohammed, lauded the impact of the commission in the North-East with regard to the construction of schools and roads.
Mohammed also commended NEDC for the provision of other essential services since inception in 2019.
He said that the commission had constructed one block of six classrooms each across the 20 local government areas of the state.
“We have recieved the intervention of the commission in health and agriculture,” he said.
Mohammed promised to distribute the donated items judiciously to the deserving families.
The Goni-Alkali and other officials of the commission would inspect road projects in Alkaleri and Kirfi, and Visco Vaginal Fistula (VVF) Centre in Ningi
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