Nation
THE STATES
Bauchi
The Bauchi Territorial Headquarters of the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) said it generated over N25 million as revenue in 2010.
The Area Postal Manager, Alhaji Dauda Musa, made the disclosure on Wednesday in an interview with our correspondent in Bauchi.
He said that the increase in the use of mobile telecommunications had not affected the services rendered by NIPOST.
Musa explained further that the organisation was able to meet its financial target in 2010.
He also confirmed that about 300 cargo luggages belonging to Bauchi State Muslim Pilgrims returning from Saudi Arabia had been dispatched to their owners.
“In 2010, we were able to achieve our target because people continued to patronise our services.
“The existence of mobile telecommunications did not make our customers stop patronising us and as a result, 2010 was a successful year for us,” he said.
The NIPOST Territorial Manager expressed gratitude to the Bauchi State Government for its continued support and patronage.
Ekiti
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Ekiti State yesterday secured the conviction of 275 persons who contravened road traffic laws during the yuletide.
They were among the 310 offenders arrested by the Ekiti command of the corps.
Seven mobile courts, headed by magistrates, sat simultaneously in Ado-Ekiti, Ikole-Ekiti, Ifaki-Ekiti, Aramoko-Ekiti, Ido-Ekiti, Omuo-Ekiti and Ado/Ikare road to try the offenders.
During the trial, 120 persons were convicted for riding motorcycles without helmets while 155 were found guilty of violating the seat belt and number plate rules as well as overloading.
The magistrates fined the convicts between N500 and N3,000 as stipulated in the road safety laws.
Speaking with our correspondent after the trial, the Sector Commander of the corps, Mr Francis Udoma, said the offenders were arrested by officials of the command at various locations in the state.
FCT
The Minister of Finance, Dr Olusegun Aganga, has described a recent letter by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to President Goodluck Jonathan on the state of the nation’s economy as “mischievous and a deliberate misrepresentation of facts”.
He told State House Correspondents in Abuja on Wednesday that the letter, dated Jan. 2, was “a desperate attempt to mislead the electorate with a view to making political gains ahead of the 2011 general elections”.
Aganga said: “Atiku, who is contesting the PDP presidential primaries with Jonathan, purportedly wrote the letter berating the Nigerian economy.
“I will not want to believe that the letter was written by Abubakar. For an individual with aspirations to govern the country to resort to outright lies and misrepresentation to seek cheap political points, is regrettable,” he said.
The minister said Nigerian economy had continued to grow, both the oil and non-oil sectors, and outperformed many global economies.
Kaduna
The Kaduna State Agricultural Development Project (KADP) has said that the targets of the Community Based Agricultural and Rural Development (CBARD) programme for 2010 were achieved.
The KADP Programme Manager, Alhaji Abdulkadir Kasum, spoke through the Head of the Media Unit, Mr Shehu Aliyu.
Kasum told newsmen in Kaduna yesterday that the targets included equipment procurement, capacity building and production development.
Others were provision and distribution of farm inputs, community development and extension services.
Kasum said that the KADP carried out a successful management, monitoring and evaluation services in the participating local governments of the state.
Kano
The Kano State Governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, says he has administered the state to the best of his ability.
Shekarau, at an interactive session with newsmen on Wednesday in Kano, expressed satisfaction with the way and manner he discharged his mandate to the people of the state.
The two-term governor, however, noted that governance was a continuous affair, saying that subsequent administrations would build on his achievements.
“I am aware of criticisms of my administration by some people but there will always be agitations for more service.
“I am sure by the time we leave government, there will still be a lot of things undone; there will still be a lot of things we would have wished to do, but probably we are unable to do,” the governor said.
He expressed happiness for improving the situation he met “in virtually all sectors”.
Katsina
A Malumfashi Chief Magistrate’s Court in Katsina State, has sentenced a 30-year-old commercial vehicle driver, Nasiru Lawal, to 14 months imprisonment for mischief and breach of trust.
Lawal, a resident of Kurnan Asabe, Kano was convicted on Wednesday by the court after he had pleaded guilty to the two-count charges.
The Prosecuting Police Officer, Mr Garba Magaji, had earlier told the court that one Alhaji Sani Bature of Aston Road, Kano, complained to the police that he entrusted his articulated tanker with registration number XE 253 GWL to the convict.
Magaji said the convict stopped a tanker loaded with petroleum product from Lagos to Kano on the way and dishonestly dispossessed part of the product valued at N390,000 at Yar’tasha Village in Malumfashi Local Government Area of Katsina State.
Lagos
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says it is discussing with the Italian government on partnering for effective anti-money laundering and global drugs control.
In a statement by the NDLEA spokesman Mitchell Ofoyeju, the Agency’s Chairman, Mr Ahmed Giade was quoted as saying the move was aimed at tightening the noose on illicit drug syndicates seeking to operate in Nigeria.
The two parties, the statement said, had already had a first round of discussions where Giade was represented by the Agency’s Director of Administration and Finance, Dr. Daniel Ismaila.
Sokoto
The ECWA Church located in Wuse II, Abuja, has donated food items, clothing and foot wears worth more than N500,000 to the Sokoto flood victims.
The items were delivered to Dr Kulu Haruna, the Special Adviser to Governor Aliyu Wamakko on Relief Matters in Sokoto late on Tuesday.
Mr Mike Achimugu, the elder in charge of welfare at the church, presented the items to the governor’s aide on behalf of the Senior Pastor of the church, Rev. Barje Maigadi.
Achimugu said the donation was aimed at alleviating the suffering of the victims.
He prayed God to prevent a recurrence of the disaster.
While receiving the materials, Haruna commended the church for the provisions and gave assurance that they would be distributed to the victims equitably.
The items donated included 45 pieces of 50kg bags of rice , one carton of three-litre gallons of vegetable oil, six bags of used clothes as well as shoes and hand bags.
Yobe
One corps member died while 17 others sustained various degrees of injury in a road accident on Jos-Bauchi-Damaturu-Maiduguri Federal Highway.
The accident occurred on Tuesday, when the bus conveying the corps members to Damaturu from Jos, after the New Year holidays had a burst tyre and somersaulted.
Alhaji Habu Sani, Secretary of Sani Abacha Specialist Hospital, Damaturu, told our correspondent that one of the corps members died on the spot.
He said two of the corps members sustained serious injuries while others suffered various degrees of injury.
The accident occurred at about three kilometers to Damaturu following a burst tyre.
”They were said to have hired the bus in Jos to convey them to Damaturu and Maiduguri but unfortunately they had the accident just before reaching Damaturu,” Sani said.
He said some of the victims were receiving treatment at the Sani Abacha Specialist Hospital, Damaturu, while the two with severe injuries had been referred to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.
The Deputy Commandant General of the Nigeria Forest Security Service (NFSS) Anti- Bunkering Agency, Amb Wachukwu Adah, has expressed gratitude to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for signing into law the Nigeria Forest Security Service Bill, describing the gesture as a right step in the right direction. The operatives of the NFSS are known as forest guards.
Amb Adah, who made the commendation during the official structuring of the Nigeria Forest Security Service Anti-Bunkering team and induction of legionnaires in Omoku Town, headquarters of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State on Friday, described President Tinubu as the best President of Nigeria following his monumental achievements in office.
He said the Local Government Autonomy Bill recently signed into law by the President Tinubu administration has tremendous impacts on the lives of the average Nigerians, especially those at the grassroots level.
He noted that by this singular gesture, the President had hit the ground running, for the meaningful development of the country.
Amb Adah reiterated that Rivers youths would utilise the opportunity to serve the country to the best of their ability, acknowledging their readiness to do the needful by ensuring that the forests across the nation are adequately secured.
The Deputy Commandant General also applauded the transformation of the Federal Capital Territory by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike, saying, the Minister has turned Abuja to London.
He, however, appealed to the Minister to assist Rivers youths to get sensitive positions in the new Nigeria Forest Security Service ,saying, there is need for him and other leaders to assist the youths who are interested in jobs at the NFSS to secure them, as it is done elsewhere.
“ We need your backing on securing the jobs at NFSS”, he said.
Amb.Adah, who represented the National Commandant, Amb Joshua Osatimehia, said the youths are fully ready to contribute to the security, progress and growth of the nation, and emphasised the essence of character, professionalism and quality service delivery at the NFSS.
In his address, the Administrator of Ogba/ Egbema/ Ndoni Local Government Council, Dr Ndu Ajie assured the security outfit of the total support of the council.
Dr Ajie, who was represented by the Secretary of the council ,Mr.Onyedibia Ndulaka, praised the determination and sacrifices made by the security operatives in ensuring and fostering the peace and security of the State.
On their part, heads of security agencies in the local government area, including the Joint Task Force(JTF); the Police; the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps(NSCDC); and the Federal Road Safety Corps(FRSC), commended the efforts of the security outfit in the security of national assets, assuring them of collaboration to achieve common goals.
During the event, the 23 LGA commanders and other ranking officers were commissioned.
Recall that President Tinubu had commissioned the Nigerian Police, the Department of State Services (DSS) and a committee to work out modalities on the operations of the NFSS.
The former State Commander of NFSS, Chief Will Wegwu showered encomiums on the Deputy Commandant General for his sacrifices and untiring efforts to keep the flag flying.
Chief Wegwu assured the participants that the officers and men would continue to support the Deputy Commandant General to succeed in his assignment.
The Omoku Police Area Commander, ACP Mahe Mohammed; and the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Omoku Police Division, CSP John Landan, were among a host of other security chiefs and personalities that graced the occasion.
Rivers-born business mogul, Chief Clement Anele, has pledged his determination to partner with student groups and other relevant bodies, to reach the unreached and the vulnerable in the society.
Chief Anele, who gave this indication while receiving an Award of Education Ambassador from the Rivers State Postgraduate Students Association in his office in Port Harcourt, said he has a covenant with God to give succour to the needy, especially widows, ,students, clerics and the vulnerable in the society.
Chief Anele ,the Managing Director of Anele Good Heart Foundation,
vowed to continue to partner with student groups and other relevant bodies to reach the unreached, and the vulnerable by providing basic necessities of life to them.
He said, “I cannot be everywhere. I need to partner with students to reach the unreached in the society. The sole aim is to improve the living standard of the vulnerable among us .
It is important we touch lives through the little resources God has made available to us .We don’t expect reward from human beings, but from God.
I feel happy and joyful seeing widows, students and the less- privileged benefiting from the foundation .It was a dream God gave me to assist making the society better. I don’t need anyone to praise me for doing it .It is a divine calling to put smiles on the faces of the vulnerable.”
In his speech, the Secretary of the group, Mr Ken Itari, described Chief Anele as an extraordinary individual, who has impacted on humanity, especially the students and widows through his foundation.
He said the honour done to the business mogul by the students was borne out of their desire to partner with him to build a better future for the youths.
He said the students would continue to stand with the philanthropist in his vision to reduce hunger and change the society for the good of all.
He noted that Chief Anele’s scholarships to the students and providing food on the tables of the widows and many vulnerable persons, using his hard-earned resources, show his immense love for humanity, stressing that his reward for the good works he is doing can only come from God.
A 56-year-old suspected drug dealer, Bode Akinsiku has been killed in Ondo town, headquarters of Ondo Local Government Area of Ondo State by unknown assailants.
Akinsiku, who was murdered at about 6:15 am on Tuesday, at a popular joint in Loro street, Odosida axis of the town was known as a prominent drug dealer in the area.
According to sources, the deceased was shot at close range after he was trailed to a bar by his yet to be identified killers.
One of the sources, who craved anonymity, revealed that Akinsiku arrived at the joint to meet with some people in the early hours of Tuesday.
“He arrived at the bar and met with some people. While he was talking with them, his phone rang and he received a call.
“It was while he was receiving the call that some boys arrived on a motorcycle. One of the boys approached him and asked if he could identify himself.
“They both engaged in a heated shouting match for some seconds before he was shot several times at close range.”
“The gunman, after shooting Bode, crossed to the other side of the road and shot sporadically to scare residents. He later hopped on a getaway motorcycle.
Meanwhile, the death of Akinsiku created panic in the area with shops and businesses horridly closed while the area was deserted over fear of arrest.
Police operatives from Enuowa Divisional Police Station later arrived at the scene and evacuated the lifeless body to the Ondo State Specialist Hospital.
The Police spokesman in the state, Olayinka Ayanlade, who confirmed the incident, stated that it was a cult related killing.
Ayanlade, who stressed that cult clashes have been rampant in the area, said efforts are ongoing to apprehend those behind the killing.
He also urged residents to be law-abiding and report any information which could lead to the arrest of the perpetrators.
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