Adamawa

Adamawa Muslim Pilgrim’s Welfare Board has received an initial allocation of 2,401 seats from the National Hajj Commission for the 2012 Hajj.

The Administrative Secretary of the board, Malam Musa Lamurde, disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Yola.

Musa explained that the seats had been distributed to the 21 local government areas of the state.

He said a committee had been set up to train and enlighten the intending pilgrims on how to perform the Hajj.

Lamurde called on the Hajj commission to allow state pilgrims boards to feed their respective pilgrims during the Hajj in Saudi Arabia.

Benue

Benue State House of Assembly has passed the bill seeking to amend the 2007 Local Government Law .

Our correspondent reports that with the passage of the bill, the tenure of elected local government councils in the state would be slashed from three to two years.

The bill was passed last Tuesday by the legislature during its plenary session through a voice vote conducted by Speaker David Iorhemba.

Iorhemba said that local council caretaker committees would be appointed to oversee the affairs of the councils for six months.

He said the committees would comprise seven members – chairman, vice chairman and five supervisory councillors.

He further said that the committees would be dissolved after inauguration of elected councils.

FCT

The Federal High Court in Abuja has directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to serve former Gov. Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa with summons by substituted means.

The court gave the order in Abuja on Monday following the EFCC’s request.

EFCC had on February 24, dragged Sylva to court on alleged misappropriation of N6.46 billion state funds.

Justice Adamu Bello gave the order in a ruling on an exparte motion filed by Mr Festus Keyamo, counsel to the prosecutor.

“The application is granted.

“So, the prosecutor is now authorised to either serve the accused person by pasting the service on the gate of his house at No 3 River Niger Street, Maitama, Abuja or through publication in not less than two national dailies.’’

The prosecutor had sought the order of the court to allow it to serve Sylva the summons by substituted means “in view of his evasive nature.’’

The anti-graft agency, in suit number FHC/ABJ/CR/23/2012, claimed that Sylva and others now at large, committed the offence between October 2009 and February 2010.

Gombe

The Chief (Mai) of Tula in Kaltungo Local Government Area of Gombe State, Alhaji Abubakar Buba, has called on entrepreneurs to invest on the rich tourism potential in the area.

The Monarch made the call in an interview with newsmen in Kaltungo.

Buba said such investment would boost the economy of the state and improve the lives of the people there.

“I am calling on both local and international investors to invest in Tula because in the North East I would say, Tula stands out to be different in terms  of the weather, the high altitude and the historical background of the chiefdom.”

He said Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo had assured the people of the area of his plan to develop the tourist sites in the area to attract investors.

He identified resorts and hotels as well as iron and solid minerals, as some of areas in which the investors can put in their money.

Jigawa

The Fadama III Office, in collaboration with the Jigawa Government, has disbursed the sum of N189 million to farmers to boost commercial agriculture in the state.

The Fadama National Project Coordinator, Mr Tayo Adewumi disclosed this during the inauguration ceremony of the project and disbursement of cheques in Dutse.

Adewunmi said that 36 Fadama Community Associations and 432 Fadama User Groups in the state would benefit from the programme.

Represented by the Zonal Coordinator, Alhaji Bala Shaibu,  Adewunmi said that the project’s concept was “community-demand-driven”, adding that every stakeholder in the business must be carried along.

He urged beneficiaries to use the funds for the intended purpose so as to produce more food for consumption and for export.

In his remarks, Gov. Sule Lamido, said that his government was committed to boosting agriculture, being the occupation of the teeming populace in the state.

Kwara

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) says it will continue to embrace policies and programmes which promote unity and peace among students.

The association stated this in a release in Ilorin against the background of the ongoing 13th West Africa University Games (WAUG) at the University of Ilorin.

The release issued by the association’s Sports Director, Saheed Ninalowo, was made available to newsmen.

The association said policies and programmes like WAUG would bring together students and other youths across the world to share common ideas and values.

“The Games provided a medium of bringing all students across West African universities together to agitate and discuss policies and programmes that affect their existence,,’’ it said.

Lagos

A pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Atayese, on Tuesday, urged the state governors to each organise referenda in their respective states and ethnic nationalities to determine what the people wanted.

At a news conference in Lagos, the Chairman of the group, Chief Tokunbo Ajasin, said it was the people’s desires that should be reflected in the presentations at the national conference Nigerians were clamouring for.

“The agitations for a sovereign national conference are okay but it must be preceded by a referendum.

“The people of each ethnic nationality must be allowed to decide on issues that they want to bring to a national discourse,” he said.

Ajasin suggested that the referenda should not be delayed to avoid more tension in the polity.

Nasarawa

The Nasarawa State House of Assembly has passed the N104 billion appropriation bill for the state for 2012.

The House Speaker, Ahmed Musa-Mohammed, said that the appropriation bill was increased by over N7 billion to N104 billion to enable the government complete pending projects.

Musa-Mohammed said that the increase was specifically to construct three kilometres of road in each of the 13 local government areas of the state.

He said that the Clerk of the House had been directed to produce a copy of the bill for ratification by the Committee on Finance and subsequent assent by the governor.

Before the passage of the budget, Muhammed Baba- Igbako, representing Udegye/Loko Constituency, had urged the House to expunge the provision for establishment of an airport in Lafia from the budget.

Niger

The prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS has dropped from 6.2 per cent to 4.0 per cent in Niger, Director General, Niger Action Committee on HIV/AIDS Mr Baba Umaru, has said.

“The drop was due to effective awareness campaign embarked upon by the committee across the state,” Umaru said on Monday in Minna in an interview with newsmen.

He added that the support and cooperation received by the committee from the government also contributed in reducing the pandemic.

The director general said the services of the committee had been made available in all the 25 local government areas of the state.

Osun

More than 73,000 children under the age of five years were immunised against polio in Olorunda Local Government Area of Osun during the second round of the 2012 immunisation exercise.

The Council’s Immunisation Officer, Mrs Jumoke Akande, disclosed this on Tuesday in an interview with newsmen in Osogbo.

Akande said the exercise was to ensure that all children between 0 to 59 months were given oral polio vaccine to protect them against poliomyelitis.

“ A day-old child is expected to be immunised at least few hours after birth until the child is nine months to have the normal routine immunisation,’’ she said.

Plateau

The Plateau government has earmarked N8 billion for the construction of additional water reservoirs to mitigate water shortage in Jos metropolis and adjourning towns.

The amount would also be deployed to overhaul old water pipes and lay new ones to address persistent shortage of potable water in the state.

The Commissioner for Water Resources, Mr. Idi Waziri, told newsmen in Jos that an initial N2.2 billion earlier released by the state government was used to rehabilitate three water treatment plants.

He explained that the rehabilitated plants would provide 140 million litres of water daily to the metropolis.

“This will improve the situation drastically as only 30 million litres are currently being pumped out,’’ he said.

Waziri, however, declared that the full potential would be achieved only when all the old pipes were overhauled and more water reservoirs constructed.

“We have finished the mechanical aspect which is the rehabilitationof the three water treatment plants.

Sokoto

The President of the Pontifical Council on Inter-religious Dialogue at the Cardinal James Tauran, Vatican, has called for sustained dialogue to ensure global peace and unity.

Tauran made the call in Sokoto when he paid a courtesy call on Gov. Aliyu Wamakko as part of his one-week working tour of Nigeria.

Tauran also said the fight against illiteracy and diseases should be fought collectively by Muslims and Christians globally.

“There must be moral formation and we must be peace-makers in the churches, mosques, schools and the universities, among others.’’

He said that in spite of the cultural and religious diversities, dialogue brings about change at all levels.

“In spite of all the diversities of religions, cultures and ethnicity, we are all the same and it is good to live together.’’

He commended the existing cordial relationship between the Muslims and Christians in Sokoto State, describing the state as a model in NIgeria.