THE STATES

Adamawa

Hundreds of youths in Mubi, Adamawa, State are now going into commercial motorcycling to beat the unemployment scourge.

The trade, locally called “achaba”, is increasingly becoming popular among the jobless youngsters in the area in spite of the high rate of accident and other risks associated with it.

According to a survey in Mubi, most of the motorcyclists are graduates and high school dropouts who took to the business after being idle for many years.

The investigation showed that the motorcyclists are making brisk business due to the absence of taxis and city bus services in the area.

Bauchi

The Bauchi State Police Command has arrested 17 suspected criminals in the past two months, the Deputy Commissioner of Police in the state, Alhaji Abdul-Majid Ali, has said. Ali made the announcement in Bauchi while briefing newsmen on the activities of the command between September and this month. He named culpable homicide, conspiracy, mischief and theft as some of the offences allegedly committed by the suspects who are currently in police custody.

FCT

The University of Abuja on Thursday said the Veterinary Council of Nigeria (VCN) accreditation for clinical stage was being awaited to promote its 500 level students of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.

Prof Olatunde Ajagbonna, Dean, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the university stated this in Gwagwalada in an interview with newsmen.

He said the delay in advancing 500 level students to clinical stage of their course followed challenges in getting the National Universities Commission (NUC) and VCN accreditation for the stage.

Jigawa

The Jigawa Police Command has beefed up security in the state, following threats by the dreaded Islamic group, Boko Haram.

Mobile policemen were seen in large numbers at various check points in Dutse confiscating motorcycles without registered number plates.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, ASP. Abdu Jinjiri, told newsmen in Dutse on Monday that officers and men of the police were at the checkpoints for their normal routine duty.

Jinjiri said the command had earlier warned motorcyclists without registered number plates not to ply any of the roads in the state.

Kaduna

Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State has called on pilgrims to pray for peace, development and growth of the nation while in the Holy land.

More than 1,400 the pilgrims had been flown to Saudi Arabia.

Yakowa, who paid a visit to the temporary Hajj camp at the International Trade Fair and Investment Centre, Rigachukwu, Kaduna, also urged them to be good ambassadors of the country.

“Pray for Kaduna State so that the unfortunate and unnecessary post-election crisis that we witnessed in the state would never occur again. Pray for peace and pray for the government”, the governor urged the pilgrims.

Kogi

The Kogi State government has approved the expulsion

of 56 students of the state College of Education, Ankpa, for their involvement in the Aug.16, bloody violence in the institution.

The Ministry of Information, in a release in Lokoja said that the council also approved the immediate dissolution of the college’s governing council.

Dr Tom Ohikere, the commissioner for information was quoted in the release as saying that the council’s decisions followed the critical consideration of the report of a seven-man panel of enquiry set up on the incident.

Lagos

The Lagos State Government is to commence the Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) of individual homes in the Badagry-Central Local Government Area on Thursday, to rid the area of mosquitoes.

Dr Adeyanju Oyetoyan, the council’s Medical Officer, told newsmen in an interview that the objective of the exercise was to control malaria in the area.

Last month, the local government distributed 112,000 Long Lasting Insect-Treated Nets to residents of the area.

Oyetoyan said that the objective of the programme was to stem malaria attacks in four local government areas of Badagry-Central, Ojo, Amuwo-Odofin and Ikorodu.

Nasarawa

The Nasarawa State says it will collaborate with the Federal Capital Territory Administration on its High Capacity Bus project, aimed at de-congesting the heavy traffic on the Keffi-Abuja road.

The Deputy Governor, Mr Dameshi Barau, disclosed the plan on Thursday in Lafia when a team of the Task force on Traffic Management and officials of the African Development Bank (ADB) paid him a visit.

Barau said the state government was planning a rail line project, which would link the state with the FCT as part of the efforts aimed at reducing traffic congestion on the route.

Ondo

Former deputy to ex-Gov. Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State, Chief Abiodun Aluko, has commended the latter for his decision to return to the PDP. Aluko told the newsmen in Akure that the return of Fayose to his former party was a welcome development to the party in the state.

He also lauded the former governor for toeing the path of reason and truth by retracing his steps back to the PDP which he said was the party to beat in the state come 2014.

Plateau

Constable Nelson Eric, a soldier serving with the military Special Task Force (STF) in Plateau, is to be tried for allegedly shooting and injuring one Alfred Adams, a pastor.  The STF said in a statement last Thursday in Jos that Eric would be tried for “misapplication of firearms’’.

The statement signed by its media officer, Capt. Charles Ekeocha, said that the “ugly“ incident, which took place in the premises of the University of Jos, was “regrettable’’.  “We thank the students of the University for listening to the voice of reasoning by not taking the law into their hands.

Sokoto

Supporters of Sen. Abubakar Gada have said the former lawmaker had remained a bona fide member of the party since 2003.

Gada represented Sokoto East Senatorial Zone in the Senate from 2007 to 2011.

He had since indicated his intention to contest the March 10, 2012 gubernatorial poll after failing to clinch a second term ticket with his defeat by the incumbent, Sen. Ibrahim Gobir (PDP-Sokoto).

Addressing a news conference, Alhaji Umar Sadik , the Special Assistant to Gada, said the former lawmaker had contributed immensely to the growth of the party at all levels.

“As a senator, he distributed thousands of motorcycles, bicycles and vehicles free as well as 3,000 water pumping machines while he dug over 3,000 tube wells among others.

“ We are strongly behind his candidature come March 10, 2012 to contest as governor in the state,’’ he said.

Taraba

The Chairman of Taraba State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Mr Bubajoda Mafindi, has expressed surprise at Monday’s protest by primary school teachers in Jalingo. Mafindi told newsmen in Jalingo that the board was in constant touch with representatives of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) over the issue of salary. The chairman said the state government agreed to pay the new minimum wage to all workers, pointing out that the delay in its implementation for teachers was due to the decision to use the bio-metric system.

He said the money for the September salary of teachers based on the old rate was intact, adding that this was rejected for the new wage.

“The protest took me by surprise because we have been in constant touch with the NUT representatives.