Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi on Monday  swore-in Alhaji Jaafar Adamu as Commissioner and 23 new permanent secretaries.

The Tide’s source reports that with the swearing-in of the new permanent secretaries, the state now has 52 permanent secretaries.

Speaking during the ceremony, Yuguda enjoined the commissioner and permanent secretaries to ensure transparency, due process and accountability in the discharge of their duties.

He urged the permanent secretaries to show  diligence and accountability in the conduct of government business.

Benue

Members of the Benue House of Assembly in Markudi on Monday held an Executive Session in honour of late Mr. Baver Dzeremo, who died on Friday.

Dzeremo, who represented Tarka State constituency, travelled to Germany in November last year for medical treatment and returned on May 19 after he was discharged.

Announcing the death of  Dzeremo in his office during the session, the Speaker, Mr. Terseer Tsumb  said members of the Assembly were in grief because the deceased  was an astute politician.

He promised that the Assembly would do everything possible to give him a befitting burial.

Panic has gripped residents of Maiduguri over incessant suspected ritual killings in some parts of the state.

Barely two weeks after the body of a teenager was found  in Lagos street in Maiduguri, with his head, arms, private organs and legs removed, another person was on Tuesday found mutilated in Bama town in Borno.

The Tide’s source reports that this is the third incident in the last two months.

The Borno Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Isa Azare, who confirmed the Bama killing to newsmen in Maiduguri on Tuesday, said the victim, 35-year-old Ali Karama, was found slaughtered in an uncompleted building with his throat removed.

He advised parents to monitor the movements of their children and report persons with questionable characters to the nearest security outfit.

The police patrol team had intensified its operations to

all suspected criminals’ hideouts in the state, he stressed.

The Police authorities in Ekiti State have dismissed six policemen attached to the command over alleged misconduct.

The command’s spokesman, Mr Mohammed Jimoh, told newsmen on Tuesday, in Ado-Ekiti, that the six policemen were dismissed two weeks ago.

He added that one officer was also demoted, while 11 others were sanctioned.

The spokesman said that the affected officers, who were between the ranks of constables and corporals, were tried by the disciplinary committee constituted by the command.

Prof Pai Obanya, an educationist, in Abuja, on Monday, urged stakeholders in the education sector to lay emphasis on quality education and not quantity.

Obanya, who was a resource person at the National Examination Summit, said the government should be more concerned with how resources spent on education impacted on children and not how much was spent.

“Invest on education and not spend on it because how much you spend is not an investment unless it produces positive results, only then would one say you have invested on education.”

A downpour, accompanied by strong winds has damaged hundreds of buildings, electrical poles and  other installations in Danja local government area of Katsina State.

The council chairman, Alhaji Balarabe Dabai, newsmen  who visited the area on Tuesday that more than 12 settlements were affected but that Danja town was the worst hit.

Dabai said the incident occurred on Sunday night and that the affected buildings included residential houses, schools, hospitals and government establishments.

A delegation of traditional rulers from Bauchi State arrived in Kebbi, on Monday, to understudy “the Systemic Engagement of Traditional Rulers’’ to immunisation.

 The delegation, led by the Emir of Dass, Alhaji Usman Bilyaminu, will  also study the  revitalisation of Primary Health Care (PHC) in Kebbi.

 The delegation, which includes USAID, WHO and UNICEF representatives, visited Governor Saidu Dakingari in Birnin Kebbi and commended the leading role of  Kebbi in the eradication of the six child killer diseases.

 “We will spend the next three days here to understudy the enviable role being  played by the traditional rulers in this state on the eradication of child killer diseases for implementation in our state,” Bilyaminu  said.

Workers in the steel sector have urged the Federal Government to immediately set machinery in motion to pay the N7.4 billion gratuities and pension arrears of some of their retired colleagues.

The workers, who made the demand in a position paper made available to The Tide’s source in Ajaokuta ,on Tuesday, said the amount had been outstanding since 2005.

In the position paper sent to the government through the Minister of Mine and Steel Development, Mr Musa Sada, the workers said that N5.2 billion of the amount was the outstanding severance benefit of their colleagues disengaged in 2005 by the Delta Steel Company, Warri.

The paper represents the joint position of the two major unions in the industry; Iron and Steel Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ISSAN) and the Steel and Engineering Workers Union of Nigeria (SEWUN) on the protracted crisis plaguing the steel sector. 

Lagos State lawmakers on Monday in a rowdy session disagreed over a bill for the registration of residents of the state for purpose of setting up a data bank.

The Executive bill, which went through its second reading  is entitled the “Lagos State Residents Registration Agency Bill”, and  seeks to establish the state residents’ registration agency.

There was a sharp division among the lawmakers over the provisions of the bill, with some lawmakers who opposed  it claiming that it lacked vital information required by members.

The members said the bill as presented was inadequate and should be sent back to the executive arm for more information.

Members in support of the bill, however, disagreed with their colleagues, arguing that because of the importance and merits of the bill, it should be read and allowed to proceed to the next stage.

The Nasarawa Government has released the sum of N30.4 million being the balance of its 2009 counterpart fund for the implementation of the Fadama III programme, an official said on Tuesday.

The Project Coordinator, Alhaji Abdullahi Alkali, disclosed this  in an interview with newsmen in Lafia.

Alkali, however, said the counterpart fund for 2010 amounting to N56.3 million was still outstanding.

He said the programme was working to ensure the attainment of  food security and sustainable income generation through the farmers.

He appealed to the state government to continue to meet its obligations in regard to the payment of counterpart funds to ensure immediate access to the World Bank contribution.

Health workers or institutions who fail to report the death of a mother during childbirth in Ondo State risk a three-month jail term or closure, a new law states.

According to the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths law, signed by Governor Olusegun Mimiko in Akure on Monday, an individual offender will be jailed three months or fined  N30,000.

Similarly, an organisation will be closed or pay a fine of N100,000 or both, Mimiko who also signed into law the Ondo State Agency for the Control of AIDS (ODSACA) bill, said.

The governor said the Confidential Enquiry Law would assist in checking  professional negligence that could lead to the death of pregnant women, “thereby providing a strategic information base for meaningful preventive interventions”.

As part of efforts to strengthen the peace-building process in Plateau, stakeholders have recommended the establishment of grazing reserves for Fulani herdsmen.

This was part of the resolutions reached at the stakeholders meeting convened by Governor Jonah Jang on Monday, in Jos to find solution to the incessant crises in the state.

A communiqué read by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr Samson Dimka, at the end of the meeting, identified indiscriminate grazing by Fulani herdsmen and other cattle rearers as a threat to farmlands and security.

The communique therefore, recommended that there was the need to demarcate cattle routes and published in the Gazette by both the Federal and Plateau governments.

Government and commercial activities in Gusau, the Zamfara capital, on Tuesday, came to a stand still in honour of visiting President Goodluck Jonathan.

The Tide’s source reports that Jonathan was in Zamfara for a one day visit to the state.

On arrival, Jonathan was expected to pay a courtesy call on the Emir of Gusau, Alhaji Muhammadu Danbaba as well as inspect and inaugurate some projects executed by the state government.

The Tide’s source in Gusau reports that most commercial centres and shops around the Gen. Sani Abacha Way, Umaru Yar’Adua road and the Ahmadu Bello Way, remained closed, while awaiting the arrival of the president.

Government offices and some schools also remained closed, while thousands of people lined up on both sides of the roads to have a glimpse of the president.