Nation
THE STATES
Adamawa
A People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees
member, Prof. Jibril Aminu, last Monday, called for provisions in the constitution to check defection by elected political office holders in the country.
Aminu, a former Senator, said at a rally in Yola that the ongoing constitution review should consider forcing elected office holders to leave office whenever they defected from the party that brought them to office.
He also called for the removal of immunity clause and the inclusion of stiffer penalty for corruption practice.
Ekiti
The Director-General, Ekiti State Centre for Arts and
Culture, Mrs Yetunde Fosudo, said that cultural festivals could be utilised to enhance the wellbeing of the people.
She said this in an interview with newsmen in Ado-Ekiti.
Fosudo said that cultural festivals were a potent means of celebrating the people and their cultural heritage.
“Culture is a way of life of the people and their communities.
“Cultural festivals serve as means whereby people display and showcase their culture and ways of life to the world,’’ she said.
FCT
The Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission
(CAC), Alhaji Bello Mahmud, said in Abuja that the CAC’s goal was to be able to register companies within two hours, anywhere in Nigeria.
Mahmud in a lecture: Nigeria’s New Business Environment and CAC’s Intervention,’’ said it had been able to reduce the period of registration of companies from five days to 24 hours.
The registrar-general, at the 3rd Annual Seminar for Trade and Investment Correspondents and Editors, said that its activities had helped to expose “the wonder banks“ in the country.
“Our collaboration with the EFCC, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other financial agencies have exposed over 370 `wonder banks` out of 400 ones that were investigated.
Gombe
The Gombe State Government has empowered 233
trainees in various skills with equipment and funds in Dukku and Yamaltu-Deba Local Government Areas of the state.
The beneficiaries were trained under the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) scheme of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Office.
Special Adviser to Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo on MDGs, Alhaji Adamu Audi, announced this at the graduation ceremony of the trainees in Deba, headquarters of Yamaltu-Deba Local Government Area.
Jalingo
The Industrial Training Fund (ITF) last Monday said that
it had trained 1000 youths on welding, cell phone repairs and yam flour processing in Taraba.
The ITF Area Manager, Yola Office, Alhaji Saleh Garba, said in an interview in Jalingo that the training started in September and was held in Jalingo, Wukari and Bali local government areas.
Garba said that the objective of the training was to empower the youths to start their own businesses so as to reduce attention on civil service.
“The reality is that there is too much competition in acquiring a public service job these days.It is in the interest of the youth to embrace entrepreneurship; by so doing, they will certainly be self-reliant,” Garba said.
Jigawa
A member representing Dutse Constituency in Jigawa State House of Assembly, Alhaji Adamu Sada, has donated an 18-seater Peugeot bus to people with disabilities in the state.
Sada, who was on wheel chair while presenting the bus, said the gesture was to ease the peoples’ movement.
He said “the bus donation will ease the movement of my brothers and sisters that were living with disabilities like me.’’
The lawmaker said movement was one of the greatest challenges of such group of persons, adding that the bus would enable them to move freely within and outside the state.
Kaduna
Vice President Namadi Sambo has described late former
Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State as selfless and patriotic leader.
Sambo said this at a one-day public lecture to commemorate the first year memorial of the former governor.
He said Yakowa rendered patriotic service to the state and country as a whole. “He dedicated his entire life to the advancement of mankind.’’
“He brought to bear his experience on any assignment given to him’’, he added.
Sambo said the gathering of personalities from all walks of life was a testimony of the lives Yakowa touched positively throughout his life time.
Kano
Some former employees of Nigeria Airways in Kano State
staged a peaceful protest over non-payment of their entitlements for 20 years.
The protesters, who thronged their former office on Bank Road in Kano at about 2p.m., carried placards with inscriptions as: “pay us our entitlements’’, “we are dying.’’
The National Vice Chairman, Nigerian Union of Pensioners, Airways Branch, Alhaji Mohammed Adamu, said the protest was informed by the failure of the Government to pay their entitlements.
According to him, over 900 of their members have so died of frustration while a number of them are still battling with one sickness or the other at home.
Kwara
Not less than 1, 755 teaching and non-teaching staff,
across the 16 local government areas of Kwara State, converged on Ilorin to sit for the 2013 promotion examination.
The Executive Chairman, Kwara State Teaching Service Commission, Alhaji Umar Aboki, told newsmen that the promotion examination was to ensure that the teachers were able to impart quality knowledge on their students.
He said that the conduct of promotion examinations was a constitutional provision.
“This is a democratic government where every segment of the society should benefit from the dividends of democracy.
“Through promotion, civil servants would benefit from the dividends of democracy,” he said.
Lagos
A former Chairman of the Lagos chapter of the Nigerian
Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Mr Jide Ologun, has urged the electorate to ask politicians credible questions about the 2015 election.
Ologun spoke with newsmen in Lagos recently.
“Definitely, the elections will hold but I am appealing to the electorate to ask questions concerning where Nigeria will be in 20 years.’’
Nasarawa
The Nasarawa State Government in collaboration with
the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) said 1000 youths were trained on various vocational skills under the National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP).
Governor Umaru Al-Makura made this known at the graduation of the trainees in Wamba on Monday.
Al-Makura said the state government was poised to curb restiveness through a robust youth empowerment programme.
He said that vocational skill acquisition was crucial to the nation’s transformation agenda, adding that it would engender a technology-driven economy and fast track diversification from oil.
The governor said the youth were trained in furniture making, welding and fabrications as well as electrical installation.
Osun
Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State last Monday
presented a bill for the creation of 27 additional local government development councils in the state to the state House of Assembly.
Presenting the bill, Aregbesola said the essence of the creation of more councils was to bring government closer to the people at the grassroots.
He said that the current councils in the state could not bring the desired results.
The governor said this was because they were too large to achieve what the administration intended to achieve through the councils.
Oyo
The National Missioner, Ansar-ud-deen Society (ADS),
Sheikh Abdur-Rahman Ahmad, has declared that the Boko Haram insurgency is a collective embarrassment to all faiths in the country.
Ahmad, who spoke with newsmen, in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, said the group represented no religious interest, adding that their objective had yet to be known.
He said that it was difficult to know in whose interest they were fighting as they had attacked all faiths.
“I state unequivocally that Islam is different from Boko Haram. We don’t know who they are, their sponsors and why they are killing people.
Sokoto
The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Sokoto
State chapter, said it had concluded plans to start giving tractors to large-scale farmers in the state as loans.
The Chairman of the association, Alhaji Murtala Gagado, made the disclosure in a telephone interview with newsmen in Sokoto State.
He said the association, in conjunction with a Kaduna-based firm, Kaka Nigeria Ltd., was set to give out 50 tractors, worth N340 million, to large-scale farmers as loan.
According to him, each tractor will be given to the beneficiaries on loan at the cost of N6.8 million.
L-R: Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, Alafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi 111 and Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji Abdulazeez Arisekola-alao, at a reception to mark Governor Ajimobi’s 64th birthday in Ibadan last Monday.
Photo: NAN
Senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has commended the efforts by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) to apprehend and prosecute the immediate past governors of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, over an alleged N80.2 billion fraud.
This is just as she also hailed the EFCC chairman, Ola Olukoyede, for ceding 14 properties that were initially forfeited to the federal government to the government and people of Enugu State.
Reacting to Bello’s excuse for not honouring the EFCC’s invitation, the lawmaker emphasized the need for the commission to investigate other corrupt public officials to avoid the impression that their actions against former governor were meant to witch hunt him.
In a now-viral video, the EFCC chairman had claimed Belloh told him that a female senator (name withheld) allegedly gathered journalists to humiliate him anytime he was at the agency’s Abuja office for interrogation.
“I called Yahaya Bello, as a serving governor, to come to my office to clear himself. I shouldn’t have done that. But he said because a certain senator had planted over 100 journalists in my office, he would not come.
“I told him that he would be allowed to use my private gate to give him a cover, but he said my men should come to his village to interrogate him,” Olukoyede was quoted as saying.
But Senator Natasha in a statement signed by her Chief Press Secretary, Arogbonlo Israel and issued at the weekend in Abuja, reminded Yahaya Bello of the importance of respecting Nigeria’s laws and constitution, given his former position as the chief security officer of Kogi.
“I was surprised to hear that Yahaya Bello evaded the invitation from the EFCC, despite having served as Kogi’s former chief security officer. As a former governor, he should understand the importance of respecting Nigeria’s laws and constitution.
“It’s a well-known fact that ‘he who comes into equity must come with clean hands’. As such, I advise him to honour the invitation and clear his name while he still has the chance.
“I’d also like to take this moment to appreciate the diligence of the EFCC in handling the case so far. No Nigerian is above the law, and therefore the agency must see this case through to the end if they are to gain the trust of both Nigerians and the international community in the fight against corruption,” she said.
Worried over the latest depreciation of the Naira against major foreign currencies, the Senate through its Committee on Finance, has stated that the Legislature is exploring a range of policy options to mitigate the impact of Naira depreciation and foster economic stability in the country.
These, according to the committee, in a statement signed by its chairman, Senator Sani Musa (APC Niger East) and released yesterday, includes robust oversight of fiscal policies, engagement with key stakeholders, and the formulation of targeted interventions to support key sectors of the economy.
Senator Musa said the statement became necessary “to address the current state of the economy and the need for concerted efforts at tackling the instability and continuous depreciation of the Naira.”
This is even as he hoped that the “economic managers will adhere strictly to the norms and standards set by this administration to ensure that we achieve the desired outcomes in taking Nigeria to its economic growth and prosperity”, pledging the support of the National Assembly to the executive arm of government to achieve the set goals.
He, however, urged Nigerians to remain vigilant and resilient as they navigate these uncertain times, saying “together, we can overcome the challenges facing our economy and chart a path towards prosperity for all.”
The statement titled: “State of the Nation Economy and Naira Depreciation’, reads “The Nigerian economy is facing significant challenges, exacerbated by both internal and external factors.
“Despite efforts to stabilize and bolster economic growth, the numerous initiatives and bold but necessary steps and policy decisions taken by President Bola Tinubu, the persistent depreciation of the Naira against major foreign currencies has become a pressing concern.
“The recent depreciation of the Naira underscores the need for proactive measures to safeguard the stability and resilience of our currency.
“The Senate Committee on Finance is closely monitoring the situation and is committed to working collaboratively with relevant stakeholders to implement effective policies and strategies.
“It is imperative that we address the root causes of Naira depreciation, including but not limited to fluctuations in global oil prices, fiscal deficits, and structural imbalances in the economy.”
The Senator, representing Rivers West Senatorial District at National Assembly Sen.Dr. Ipalibo Harry Banigo has advocated for legislative backings to enforce immunisation as a pre-condition for admission into nursing, primary and secondary schools in Nigeria.
Banigo made the assertion recently in a statement to commemorate this year’s week-long immunisation campaign in line with the World Health Organisation advocacy.
Banigo, a Harvard-trained Public Health personnel, explained that such legislation would strengthen the National Immunisation Policy in the administration of vaccines, saves lives, helps in the child normal growth, prevents serious illness and disabilities such as poliomyelitis .
The former Deputy Governor of Rivers State who is also the Chairman, Senate Committee on Health (Secondary and Tertiary), noted that Nigeria must attain at least, 90 percent vaccine coverage for all childhood and adolescence; stressing that a fully vaccinated child should have received BCG, Mussels and three doses of DTP and Polio .
She emphasised the need for collective efforts by stakeholders in the campaign against preventable diseases .
The theme for this year’s World Immunisation Week is “Humanly Possible: Saving Lives Through Immunisation” while the national theme is “Vaccine Works For All”.
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