Nation
THE STATES
Bauchi
The Federal Roads Safety Commission (FRSC) in Bauchi
State has confirmed that four people
died in auto crash at Gubi village on Bauchi-Kano Road last Tuesday.
Mr Henry Olatunji, the state Sector Commander, told our
correspondnet in Bauchi that the accident, involving two vehicles, occurred in
the morning.
He said that a Honda Accord car with registration AE108 MSA
and a Peugeot J5 with number SA 804 DKU collided, adding that the collision
resulted in fire, which led to the death of the passengers.
Olatunji said that the passengers were burnt beyond
recognition.
He noted that five
other passengers sustained injuries and that both the dead and the injured ones
were taken to the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital, Bauchi.
Benue
A community leader at Ochama in Okpokwu Local Government
area of Benue State, Mr Joseph Aba, has appealed to the state government to
provide relief materials to victims of the flood disaster in the area.
Aba, in a statement
made available to The Tide in Makurdi, appealed to the State Emergency
Management Agency (SEMA) and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to
send the relief materials urgently to the victims of the disaster.
The statement claimed that hundreds of houses and farm lands
were swept away by flood, adding that Madikpo clan was the most affected area.
The statement also noted that most children in the area had
been exposed to cold and were sleeping in the open alongside their parents due
to the lack of shelter.
FCT
The Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, last Tuesday
called on the media to play active roles in Nigeria’s transformation by paying
more attention to developmental issues.
Maku made the call in Abuja at an interactive session with
journalists on the forthcoming good governance tour, jointly organised by the
ministry and the Nigeria Union of Journalists.
He urged
journalists to desist from overheating the polity through their reportage of
the impending 2015 elections, and urged them to use the opportunity of the
forthcoming tour to redirect the focus of their reports and features to
developmental issues.
Maku said that the nation would benefit more if journalists
and media organisations re-examined the direction and philosophy of their
operations.
The minister said the tour would be unique in approach,
content and composition, adding that other stakeholders, apart from the media,
had been incorporated to give the exercise the desired credibility.
Jos
The Minister of Environment, Hajia Hadiza Mailafia, has said
in Jos that the Federal Government had commenced assessment of areas hit by the
flood that swept through many states of the federation.
The minister disclosed this when she led a team, constituted
to carry out the assessment, on a courtesy call on Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State.
According to the minister, the team is expected to tour all
states affected by the disaster and, recommend ways to assist the victims and
to avoid a recurrence, pointing out that the team was in the state to see the
level of devastation caused there and to make recommendations to the
government.
“Over the last few months there had been series of flooding
across the country, including Plateau. We hope to recommend and implement
stringent measures to end the trend.
Kaduna
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on
Tuesday awarded the Kaduna State Commissioner for Environment and Natural
Resources, Mr Zakaria Shamaki, the ‘Best Performing Commissioner in Nigeria
2012’ award.
Presenting the award in Kaduna, Mr Kolawole Olaoluwa, the
President of the association, said that the honour was in recognition of the
commissioner’s commitment to education in the state.
Olaoluwa remarked that Shamaki’s contribution towards
promoting best environmental practice earned him the “National Merit Award of
the Nigerian Students’’.
Katsina
The Community-Based Agricultural and Rural Development
Programme (CBARDP) has received N2.1 billion of the N2.7 billion approved
budget for the 2012 projects implementation, Alhaji, Abu Kankia, the National
Programme Coordinator, has disclosed.
Kankia told The
Tide in Katsina that the money was received from the International Fund for
Agricultural Development (IFAD), the major financier of the programme, as well
as the participating states and local governments.
The money, he said, covered the period January to August
2012 and represented 78 per cent financial performance.
He spoke on the sidelines of the 16th Supervision Mission of
the programme led by the IFAD Country Programme Manager, Ms Atsuko Toda, with
other IFAD and Federal Government officials, IFAD consultants and
journalists as members of the team.
Kebbi
The Kebbi State Command of Nigerian Immigration Service
(NIS) has concluded arrangements to deport 70 suspected illegal immigrants, the
Comptroller, Alhaji Sule Momoh, said.
Momoh told our correspondent
in Birnin Kebbi that the immigrants were arrested during routine checks.
He said the arrests
indicated an increase of entry by illegal immigrants into the state from
neighbouring countries, namely Niger Republic and Republic of Benin.
“The apprehended immigrants had no legal documents that
would guarantee them to conveniently stay within Nigeria.
“But we would expand our vigilance and deport such illegal
immigrants,” Momoh stressed.
Kogi
Displaced residents of Lokoja and its environs in Kogi State
have appealed to the state government for assistance as flood continued to
ravage the areas.
The victims, in
separate interviews with our correspondent in Lokoja, pleaded with the
government to urgently provide temporary accommodation for them.
The appeal followed the flooding of houses on the banks of
the River Niger, which had displaced hundreds of people, including women and
children.
Our correspondent who visited the affected areas, observed
that the river had overflowed its banks, submerging houses and washing away
property worth millions of naira.
Kwara
A bill to establish Kwara State Urban Regional Planning
Board has scaled through first reading at the House of Assembly.
Majority Leader Abdulkareem AbdulGaniyu moved the motion for the first reading of the bill,
while Hajiya Raliat Aremu Adifa, the member representing Lanwa-Ejidongari
constituency, seconded the motion.
Speaker Rasaz Atunwa
directed the House Committees on Land and Housing and Business Rules to work on
the bill to ensure proper passage.
Meanwhile, the
Assembly has rejected the report of its Committee on Lands, Housing and Urban
Development on a petition written by Atari community in Offa over the taking
over of their parcel of land.
Lagos
Wife of Lagos State governor, Mrs Abimbola Fashola, has said
3,500 students participated in the 2012 summer school programme, organised by
Lagos Empowerment and Resource Network (LEARN), her initiative.
Speaking at the closing ceremony last Tuesday, Fashola said
the students were taught core subjects, vocational skills and recreation,
adding that the programme took place in seven centres in Agidingbi, Ketu,
Ibeju-Lekki, Mushin, Surulere, Egbeda and Ojo.
“Five years ago, when we initiated this programme, our
objective was to engage students positively during the long summer vacation. It
was to first and foremost make them responsible and secondly, keep them safe
and from the streets.
Nasarawa
Five officers of the Nigeria Police Force in Nasarawa State
Police Command have been promoted to the rank of Assistant Commissioners of
Police.
The Tide reports that the officers, Umar Mohammed,
Tarfa Ibrahim, Monday Bala-Kurya, Mohammed Bosso-Barje and Aliyu Haruna, were
promoted for being hard-working and committed to duty.
Mr Micheal Zuokumor, the AIG in-charge of Zone 4, decorated
the officers at a brief ceremony at the police officers’ mess in Lafia.
Decorating the officers, Zuokumor said the promotion was part of the
Inspector-General of Police’s on-going reforms in the force, adding that the
gesture would serve as motivation for better performance.
Ogun
The Ogun State
government says it had spent N783.1
million on the construction of flyover bridge at Ibara roundabout in
Abeokuta. The Permanent Secretary,
Ministry of Works, Mr Kayode Ademolake, disclosed this during an oversight
visit to the ministry by the State House of Assembly Committee on Housing and
Infrastructure.
Ademolake, who put the total cost of the project at N1.5
billion, said that the government had released N783.1 million, adding that the bridge construction in Amolaso in
Abeokuta South Local Government area was 60 per cent completed, while the state government had released N60.5
million out of the N89.5 million cost of the project.
“I also want you to know that the cost of the construction
of Quarry-Surulere, Ita-Eko road was N59.1 million. Just as the construction of
Ibara, Ita-Eko, Sokori, Totoro road which is ongoing will cost N1.3 billion,’’
he said.
Oyo
In its effort to reduce the shortage of teachers, the Oyo
State Government has commenced a one- week training for 3,000 YES-O education
cadets in the three senatorial districts.
The cadets, who are graduates of education, will be deployed
to public primary and secondary schools immediately after completing the
training.
Mrs Adetokunbo Fayokun, the Commissioner for Education,
announced the plan in Ibadan at the opening of the training, adding that the
training was aimed at ensuring that the cadets were equipped with requisite
skills and knowledge to function in their places of assignment.
The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) has commemorated the 15th anniversary of the release of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Environmental Assessment Report on Ogoniland, reaffirming its commitment to restoring the environment and improving the livelihoods of affected communities.
In a statement signed by the Project Coordinator, Prof Nenibarini Zabbey, to commemorate the anniversary, HYPREP described the anniversary as a significant milestone in Nigeria’s environmental restoration efforts, noting that the project has made remarkable progress in implementing the recommendations of the landmark UNEP report released on August 4, 2011.
The UNEP report had revealed extensive oil pollution across Ogoniland, severe environmental degradation, and serious public health risks resulting from decades of petroleum operations. It also recommended an initial $1 billion fund to commence the cleanup of the affected communities.
According to HYPREP, the Federal Government formally launched the Ogoni clean-up in 2016, while the Project Coordination Office was established in 2017 to drive the implementation of UNEP’s recommendations.
Zabbey said the current administration has continued to prioritise the project under the Renewed Hope Agenda.
Providing an update on the cleanup, the Project Coordinator disclosed that 30 of the 65 contaminated sites identified by UNEP have been fully remediated, while work is ongoing at several medium- and high-risk locations. It also stated that more than 1.5 million mangrove seedlings have been planted as part of what it described as the world’s largest restoration of oil-degraded mangroves, with over 1,000 hectares of shoreline already rehabilitated.
Zabbey further revealed that 49 Ogoni communities have been connected to potable water schemes through multiple water projects and booster stations aimed at providing safe drinking water across the region.
In the health sector, he said the 100-bed Ogoni Specialist Hospital in Kpite and the 43-bed Cottage Hospital in Buan are nearing completion, adding that several existing health facilities have been upgraded with modern medical equipment, while five ambulances have been donated to improve emergency healthcare services. The Project Coordinator also disclosed that a three-year human health biomonitoring study is being conducted in collaboration with the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
On economic empowerment, Zabbey stated that the Project has created more than 8,000 direct jobs and trained thousands of Ogoni youths and women in various vocational and technical skills, including software development, cybersecurity, aviation, commercial diving, seafaring, mechatronics, and creative arts. The project also reported awarding scholarships to more than 1,000 students, providing grants to small businesses, and supporting persons living with special needs through skills acquisition programmes.
The statement further highlighted ongoing legacy projects, including the Ogoni Power Project and the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration, which it said is about 96 per cent complete. HYPREP also welcomed the recent designation of the Ogoni Wetland as a Ramsar Site of International Importance and pledged to continue promoting biodiversity conservation and sustainable management of the ecosystem.
Marking the anniversary, Zabbey said the progress achieved over the past 15 years demonstrates the collective commitment of government, development partners, stakeholders, and local communities to restoring Ogoniland. He called for renewed collaboration to sustain the cleanup effort, promote environmental sustainability, and support the long-term development of the region. 3
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