Adamawa

The Adamawa State Government has revived moribund Women Training Centres in local government areas of the state to enable more women benefit from the newly introduced Local Apprenticeship Scheme (LAS) programme.

The Project Manager of LAS, Alhaji Sani Jada, made this known in an interview with newsmen in Yola.

Jada said that training centres had been resuscitated in Gombi, Song, Numan, Mayo-Belwa, Fufore and Yola South Local Government Area where 1,626 women were enrolled for various skills and petty business training.

He said that another set of 318 women were attached to Master Trainers across the state while 200 others were enrolled in Hajiya Zainab Nyako’s Women Education and Empowerment Initiative (WEEIN) centre in Yola.

Borno

Alhaji Inuwa Kubo, the Borno State Commissionr for Education, said on Sunday that the State Government has increased the monthly feeding budget of students of post primary schools from N20 million to N30 million.

Kubo,  who stated this during an interview session with Principals of Secondary Schools in Maiduguri, explained that the move was to improve the quality of food and education of the students.

He advised the principals to make sure that the money was judiciously spent by setting up Committee of Parent Teacher Association (PTA) to monitor quality of food in schools across the state.

He said the present administration of Governor Kashim Shettima has completed every arrangement to pay WAEC registration for the students.

FCT

Mrs Iniobong Usoro, President of the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN), has called on the Federal Government to take urgent steps to stamp out quackery in the engineering profession.

She made the call on Saturday in Abuja at the Annual General Meeting of the association with theme: “ Women Engineering Career : The Female Case’’.

She told government to introduce measures that would encourage competition and growth in the building industry, saying that the association’s meeting would focus on the challenges faced by engineering professionals and how to tackle the problems.

Highlights of the meeting include the donation of N100,000 to Miss Adedoyi Funmilola of the Federal University of Technology Akure, the best graduating female engineering student who scored a cumulative grade point of 4.62

Gombe

Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State has condoled with the government and people of Gombe State over the accident that occurred recently in the state which led to loss of lives and property.

During a visit to Gov. Ibrahim Dankwambo in Gombe recently Yuguda expressed sympathy to the families and friends of the victims of the accident.

“I am here on behalf of myself and the people of Bauchi State to sympathise with the government and people of Gombe State over the accident which occurred whereby a trailer lost control and affected quite a lot of people.

Dankwambo thanked Yuguda and the people of Bauchi State for their concern and prayed God to accept the condolence.

Dankwambo said Gombe and Bauchi were still one and that whatever affected one state affected the other.

Jigawa

Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State has urged State Assembly Speakers in the North to restore the “lost values and culture” of the region.

Lamido, who gave the charge on Saturday at the 21st meeting of the Northern Speakers Forum in Dutse, said the people of the region were known as united souls, irrespective of their tribal or religious affinities.

“It is unfortunate that all these values have been lost because of political differences and other selfish interests that have bedevilled the region.”

Lamido, therefore, urged the forum to focus its deliberations toward bringing unity and mutual co-existence among the different ethnic groups in the region and the nation in general.

Kano

Mr Isa Tijjani, a former National Vice President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, has cautioned the Federal Government against withdrawing subsidy from petrol.

Speaking to newsmen in Kano recently, Tijjani said the decision would aggravate the current economic hardships in the country.

“Instead of withdrawing the subsidy, government should address the challenges facing the entire sector to reduce the cost of bridging and importation of the commodity,” he said.

According to him, the Federal Government should ensure total rehabilitation of the oil refineries, in addition to making all the petrol depots functional.

Katsina

The people of Mahuta in Kafur Local Government Area of Katsina State, have been urged to live in peace and engage in viable ventures capable of contributing to the development of the area and the nation at large.

Alhaji Bello Abdulkadir, the District Head of Mahuta, made the call in an interview with newsmen in Mahuta on Sunday.

He had just conferred Prof. Haruna Yusuf, a Mathematics lecturer at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, with the traditional title of “Dan-masanin Mahuta”.

Abdulkadir also challenged intellectuals in Nigeria and abroad to contribute their quota toward the development of their local communities.

He said that Yusuf was so honoured, being their first son to attain the highest academic status in the community.

Lagos

The PHCN Transmission Company of Nigeria has said that incessant erection of buildings and sand dredging activities under electricity transmission towers are the biggest threats to the operations of the company.

Mr Olushola Akinniranye, Executive Director, Transmission and Services Provider, said in an interview with newsmen on Saturday in Lagos, that a warning had become imperative because dredging of sand under transmission towers often exposed the towers to collapse.

Akinniranye warned sand dredging operators to stop their activities, stressing that it would cause the organisation more than 18 months to replace or repair any fallen part of the network across Nigeria.

Niger

The Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqa’atu Rufai, on Saturday in Minna, inaugurated a geosciences workstation worth N132 million, donated by Exxom Mobil Nigeria Ltd to the Federal University of Technology, Minna.

The minister said that the workstation, donated to the Department of Geosciences would strengthen the study of geosciences in the university.

She said that government was appreciative of the gesture by Exxom Mobile, urging companies and private individuals to emulate the good example of the company.

Oyo

Many prominent Nigerians on Friday in Ibadan gathered at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium to witness the burial service for Chief Kolapo Ishola, a former governor of Oyo State.

The service was jointly conducted by Archbishop Ola Makinde, the Prelate, Methodist Church of Nigeria, and Rev. Francis Wale Oke, the Bishop of the Sword of the Spirit Ministry.

The deceased died at his Ikolaba, Ibadan, residence on

Aug. 9 at the age of 77.

Paying tributes, Chief Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the former governor of Osun State, described the deceased as a trustworthy politician, noting that he was a father to all.

Sokoto

Alhaji Muktari Mapia, the Deputy Treasurer of PDP in Sokoto State, on Friday called on Nigerians to support President Goodluck Jonathan’s plans to transform the country.

Mapia told newsmen in Sokoto that the President’s transformation agenda was one of the best things that had ever happened to Nigeria in recent times.

He, therefore, stressed the need for all the citizens to support the agenda, which was aimed at kick-starting the country’s socio-political and economic development in pragmatic terms.

Mapia said that for instance, the ongoing reconstruction of federal roads across the country would enhance the smooth movement of people, goods and services in the country.

“The priority attention, which the Federal Government is giving to education, health care delivery, poverty eradication and expansion of railway lines, as well as dredging of River Niger, is an indication that Jonathan will transform our country before leaving office in 2015.’’

“The proper funding of our nation’s security agencies will enable them to come out with effective security arrangements that will guarantee peace and enhance national development,’’ he said.

Taraba

At least 16 women from Taraba will not perform this year’s hajj to Saudi Arabia because they have failed the pre-hajj pregnancy screening.

The Executive Secretary of the Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Alhaji Hassan Bantaje, made the disclosure in an interview with newmen in Jalingo on Saturday.

He said the rules and regulations governing hajj, barred pregnant women from embarking on the pilgrimage because of “the rigorous nature of the exercise”.

Bantaje said the women defied the law and concealed their pregnancies in order to perform the pilgrimage but that the lenses of the medical doctors exposed them.

He said they would not be allowed to perform the hajj this year, explaining that measures were being taken to sanitise pilgrims.

Bantage disclosed that 1,983 pilgrims from the state would perform the hajj this year, 200 of whom he said, were government-sponsored.