THE STATES

Adamawa

The Fadama III Office in Maiha Local Government Area of Adamawa says it has expended about N21 million on the programme.

The Desk Officer for the programme in the area, Malam Nasiru Lawan, disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Maiha on Wednesday.

Lawan said that N15 million was spent on rural community development projects while N6 million was committed to pilot assets acquisition in the last three years.

“Some 15 Fadama User Groups (FUGs) benefitted from the pilot assets scheme to enable them to engage in agricultural processing, crop, fishery and livestock production,” Lawan said.

He identified the benefitting FUGs as Lingal, Alheri and Soran, Imani Support, Pakka Widows, Hamdala Women and Rahma Poultry.

According to him, the programme has so far registered 12 Fadama Community Associations (FCAs) and 134 FUGs serving 2,010 members in the area.

Ekiti

The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) has recommended resuscitation of railway and water transport systems as means of reducing high incidence of auto crashes on Nigerian roads.

The Corps Transport standardisation Officer of the FRSC, Dr. Kayode Olagunju, said this in an interview with journalists in Ado-Ekiti.

Olagunju said the pressure on Nigerian roads was too much, while stating that deplorable road condition, violation of traffic rules and bad management practices among flect operators in the country had contributed largely to heavy carriage on the roads.

The FRSC boss who was in the state to ensure flect operators compliance with safety requirements for flect owners, including government ministries, departments and agencies, said the commission would no longer treat violation of safety rules with kid gloves.

According to him, the Commission in a report on Road Traffic Crashes involving buses between 2007 and 2010 recommended that government should resuscitate railway transportation and water transportation systems to reduce the pressure on the road as well as high incidence of crashes.

FCT

The House of Representatives Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution has called for the submission of memoranda from members of the public.

The Deputy Speaker and Chairman of the committee, Mr Emeka Ihedioha, in a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday, requested the public to state the sections they wished amended.

The statement also called on those submitting memoranda to provide justification for the suggested amendment and indicate how it would promote good governance, unity and rule of law in the country.

The statement further requested that memoranda should be submitted to the Clerk of the committee within 30 days.

It noted that the commencement of the review was based on the previous successful alteration of the constitution by the sixth National Assembly.

Gombe

The President, Gombe Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (GOCCIMA), Alhaji Adamu Annuri, has called on the State Government to address the problems of robbery in Gombe metropolis.

Annuri told newsmen in Gombe on Wednesday the government should intensify efforts to ensure adequate security at the central market and its surroundings.

“There is the need for the government to send intelligence security personnel to the strategic areas to enable them provide information that will lead to the arrest of the robbers,’’ he said.

He said between last year and early this year, five robbery incidences had occurred in the market and the robbers left with thousands of naira.

Kaduna

The Association of Solid Waste Contractors in Kaduna has described the sanitary condition of the metropolis as an “eyesore” and a “threat” to human health.

The Chairman of the association, Alhaji Shehu Ibrahim, said this on Tuesday in Kaduna while speaking with newsmen.

He decried what he called the care-free attitude of some residents to waste management.

“The care-free attitude of some residents of the city has worsened the sanitary situation in the metropolis,’’ he said, adding that it posed a challenge to attaining the MDGs on sanitation.

“The attitude of some residents is sabotaging government’s efforts to maintain a clean environment.

Ibrahim told newsmen that the state government sacked eight solid waste contractors last year for non-performance.

He also said that the waste collection coverage allocated to the contractors last year was reduced from 60 per cent to 50 per cent.

Katsina

Tomato farmers in Danja, Kafur and Bakori local government areas of Katsina State, have solicited the assistance of both the Federal and Katsina State Governments to expand their business.

A cross section of the farmers made the call on Wednesday in Danja, Katsina State, in separate interviews with newsmen.

They identified the lack of storage and processing facilities and inadequate water supply as some of the constraints militating against the growth of the business.

Alhaji Kabiru Usman, who plants tomato at Gozaki village, appealed to the state government to construct a dam or sink boreholes for tomato farmers to boost their business.

He said that he and his colleagues recorded huge losses annually due to the lack of water, storage and processing facilities.

Lagos

Contract for the second phase of expansion of the  Lagos-Badagry Expressway— LOT 2A— has been awarded to China Civil Engineering and Construction Corporation (CCECC).

Mr Biola Fagunwa, the Assistant Director, Public Relations Department of the Lagos State Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, said this in a statement on Wednesday in Lagos.

The statement said that the commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Dr Kadiri Hamzat, disclosed this at a meeting with stakeholders on the project at Alausa, Ikeja.

It said that CCECC was one of the five companies which bidded for the contract in 2010.

It added that the new phase of the project would start at Mazamaza area of the road to Okokomaiko, adding that CCECC would also have the responsibility for the railway content in the LOT 2A as in LOT 1.

Nasarawa

Governor Tanko AlMakuru of Nasarawa State has said that the state government will collaborate with the Abuja Market Management Limited to effectively and efficiently put Lafia modern market to use.

Al-mkura said the completion of the market was to ensure the utilisation of its values and give prospective business people the opportunity to contribute to the economic advancement of the state and enjoined the market association to cooperate with AMML.

He also said that the state government was determined to boost the economy of the state even as he wooed investors into the state.

Ogun

A Senior Registrar at the Nephrology and Geriatrics Unit, Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, Dr. Folashade Oluwole has advocated for the passage of an Elders Rights Act by the National Assembly to cater for the aged.

She made the call in a lecture on “Active and Healthy Ageing” delivered on Wednesday in Abeokuta in commemoration of the 54th birthday anniversary of Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun.

Oluwole urged the Federal Government to facilitate the passage of the Act, “because most of the senior citizens have suffered untold hardship as a result of old age”.

“If animals can have their own rights in some countries, how much more human beings.”

She said that it had become imperative for the proposed bill to be passed into law to ensure adequate protection of the rights of senior citizens.

Oluwole also called for a periodic review of the nation’s pension laws to be commensurate with the inflation rate in the country.

She advised the senior citizens to always ensure periodic check of their blood pressure and their blood sugar level.

Oluwole identified some of the diseases that were associated with old age as arthritis, stroke, romanticism and insomnia, stressing that eating right, exercising and taking adequate rest would elongate lives.

Zamfara

The chairman of Zamfara State Primary Schools Assessment Committee Prof. Tukur Adamu, has promised to dig out the net bedevilling Primary Schools development in the state.

Adamu said the States’s Primary Education Board had made some discoveries of mismanagement in the sector in recent times, including the existence of over 1500 ghost teachers, adding that the committee would be intensive in its investigation and was likely to come up with more revelations.