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THE STATES

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Adamawa

Commandant of the Adamawa State Internally Displaced
Persons Camp, Mr Abdulmumini Jauro, yesterday said about 1,300 people have been registered at the camp.
Jauro said this in an interview with newsmen at the Bajabure refugee camp in Girei Local Government Area.
The commandant, who is a member of Nigerian Red Cross society, said nine pregnant women were among the displaced persons.
“We have so far registered over 1,300  people who escaped from attacks in Madagali, Michika and Mubi North and South Local Government Areas of the state,” Jauro said.
He said among the refugees are 162 students of the federal polytechnic and Adamawa State University, Mubi, who are indigenes of Taraba State.

Benue

A traditional ruler in Benue State, Chief Hillary Ikyima,
has taken over the land which Mbakyaa and Dzev communities of Shangev-ya, have been fighting over.
He also called on the state government to urgently send in surveyors to cordon the disputed area in order to avoid further clashes.
Ikyima made the call yesterday when he led clan heads and other stakeholders of the area to initiate a peace meeting between the people at Imande village.
The traditional ruler, thereafter, directed all parties involved in the crisis which was said to be as a result of the gains of the forest reserve on the land, to immediately vacate the area or be handed over to law enforcement agents.
Secretary of Kwande Local Government Council, Rev. Akpaegh expressed satisfaction with the action of the traditional ruler, while pledging the commitment of the council to work closely with the traditional institution to ensure lasting peace.
FCT

Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State has dispelled
rumours about his defecting from the Labour Party to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The governor made this known at the end of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja yesterday where the national chairman of LP, Chief Dan Nwanyanwu also stated that Mimiko’s attendance at the NEC meeting puts paid to reports that he has dumped the LP. He further said he would step down as the party’s chairman and not seek re-election, having served as chairman since 2004.
At the end of the NEC meeting, Governor Mimiko in a terse response to reporters’ question about his defection said: “It is all rumours and I do not react to rumours.”

Gombe

The Emir of Gombe, Alhaji Abubakar Shehu Abubakar,
has called on people of the state to pray against a re-occurrence of the recent flood disaster.
It was gathered that the flood which followed a heavy rainfall, claimed six lives and destroyed over 100 houses in Gombe metropolis.
He also cautioned them to desist from any action that could block waterways.
The emir spoke yesterday when he went round the town to commiserate with the bereaved families and inspect the damage caused by the flood.
Speaking through the Yeriman Gombe, he advised the people to always keep their environments clean.

Jigawa

Jigawa State Command of the Nigerian Security and Civil
Defence Corps(NSCDC) yesterday said it has recovered 196 out of the 202 permanent voters cards stolen in Malam-Madori Local Government Area.
This was disclosed to newsmen by the state Commandant of the NSCDC, Dr.Muhammad Gidado.
He said after the command issued a statement on the missing cards in Tanukutaru ward, Gandun Sarki polling unit of Malam-Madori Local Government Area, three suspects were arrested.
He added that after investigation, 196 cards were recovered by the detectives. He maintained that the remaining six will soon be recovered.
Kaduna

Kaduna State Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero has
called for the suppression of religious extremism of all kinds, saying most reasons given for it ends at achieving personal or group interests, thereby creating division, encouraging violence and retarding development.
Receiving the management team of Darul Iftar, an Egyptian institute led by the country’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Ashraf Salama, in Kaduna, Yero advised Nigerians to understand the true teachings of their religions to enable them promote unity and peaceful co-existence.

Kano

The Kano State chapter of the committee of leaders of
the legacy parties, ACN, ANPP, CPC, which merged to form the All Progressives Congress (APC), has denied a resolution to support the aspiration of Governor Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso for the presidency next year.
A report had last week claimed that the state’s elders committee of the APC was backing the governor to contest for the presidency.
But the leaders of the defunct parties in a statement said they were not aware of any elders’ committee of the APC in the state.
The terse statement signed by Alhaji Musa Umar (ACN), Garba Bala of the defunct CPC and Mallam Muktar Kwaru from the defunct ANPP, said the endorsement was “far from the truth”.
It said the two signatories of the purported communiqué were not members of the legacy parties, but members of the Kwankwasiyya group and therefore could not speak for the legacy parties.

Katsina

Five local government councils in Katsina State have
been dragged before the North-west zonal office of the Tax Appeal Tribunal sitting in Kaduna by the Federal Inland Revenue Service over tax evasion.
The councils were accused of not paying  Withholding and Value Added Tax for three years.  Counsels representing the FIRS, Barrister Nasambo Mohammed and Barrister Raji Mukhtar, told the tribunal that the five local government councils namely: Mani, Batsari, Dutsi, Daura and Baure, collected tax and refused to remit same to the appropriate authority.
Counsel representing the five local government areas, Barr. A. A. Ibrahim, asked the tribunal for more time to allow the parties negotiate out-of-court settlement.
Chairman of the tribunal, Bashir Abdullahi Albasu, then adjourned the matter to October 15, 2014.
In the same vein, Kaduna Polytechnic and Ahmadu Bello University Zaria have opted for out-of-court settlement in their tax evasion cases brought against them by the Kaduna State government.
Kogi

Chief Medical Director of Federal Medical Centre, FMC,
Lokoja, Kogi State, Dr. Gbadebo Eleshin, yesterday, said the centre would appeal the suspension of four  of its doctors by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria.
Last week, the Medical and Dental Council suspended Dr. Temitope Gabriel Onile for three months, while     Drs Nzurumike Charles Nanna, Danmusa Adamu Ochala and Omotayo Oluwa Damilola were each suspended for six months.
At a briefing, Eleshin said the suspension was carried out “in error by the Medical and Dental Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal. The suspension was issued to the four doctors as a result of a pregnant woman whose time of delivery went beyond the Expected Day of Delivery, EDD, which was admitted for observation. When her condition eventually defied normal delivery and induction, and it was discovered that the woman’s uterus had ruptured, the doctors quickly prepared her for caesarean session, to save the mother and the baby, but both gave up the ghost on the way to the theatre as a result of complications.”

Lagos

The Lagos State government says it has not decided on
the recent directive by the federal government that schools across the country should resume on September 22.
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr  Jide Idris,  said this while addressing newsmen on the Ebola virus.
He said  the issue was before  the  State Executive Council and that government would soon make a pronouncement on whether schools in the state would resume on the date or not.
The federal government recently reversed resumption date of schools nationwide to September 22 from the earlier date of October 13.
The Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, while announcing the reversal in Abuja, said the government shifted the date backwards, because the virus had been significantly contained.
Sokoto

Governor Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State says the way
the federal government is treating the issue of insurgency is not comforting.
The governor who spoke while commissioning vehicles donated to the state police command by the MTN foundation, said: “Nigerians are tired of excuses; we want to hear good news. We want to hear something positive. If Nigeria can win a civil war and win the war against militants in the Niger Delta, I wonder why it cannot overcome insurgency”.
He accused the government of being soft in its approach to the matter.
“The federal government needs to change its attitude towards insurgency; it needs to give our security agents all that they need to fight the war and win. I believe we have the capacity to win this war and defeat the agents of darkness,” he said.
He lamented that the way the matter was being handled at the moment was causing fear among the populace.
Wamakko also appealed to members of the public to support security agencies with prayers and useful information.

Governor  Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State (left), receiving a souvenir from Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa'ad Abubakar 111 for attending the Nigerian Defence Academy Alumni 18th Regular Course Re-Union in Sokoto, recently.

Governor Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State (left), receiving a souvenir from Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar 111 for attending the Nigerian Defence Academy Alumni 18th Regular Course Re-Union in Sokoto, recently.

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Rivers Deputy Governor Hails PH City One Love For Humanitarian Gesture

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Rivers state Deputy Governor Professor Ngozi Nma Odu has commended “The Port Harcourt City One Love,”a Port Harcourt based humanitarian orgnisation For it’s commitment towards alleviating the sufferings of the poor and vulnerable in the society.

Professor Ngozi Nma Odu said this while speaking at this year’s edition of “operation feed the needy” a yearly outreach program of “The Port Harcourt City One Love ” in Port Harcourt.
The Deputy Governor said by feeding more than sixty thousands hungry people within the past six years, the Port Harcourt City One Love Movement has distinguished itself as a club that cares for the less privilege in the society.

She commended the , organization for listing eleven thousand persons to be fed in the current exercise.

Meanwhile The Port Harcourt City One Love  has planned a permanent solution to the problem of feeding the poor in the state.

The leader of the group Mr Idaere Gogo Ogan who said this in an interview with newsmen during the distribution of food items to the poor and vulnerables in Port Harcourt said the organization is planning a permanent food kitchen where poor and vulnerable persons can work in anytime and get fed.

Idaere Gogo Ogan said more than sixty thousands poor and vulnerable persons across Port Harcourt City and environs have been fed since the inception of “The operation feed the needy” program six years ago,adding that so far sixty thousands poor and vulnerable persons have beneffited.

 

He described the group as a platform to promote friendship, brotherhood, community development empathy and feeding the less privilege and hungry people
“That’s what we are doing today here,so we started the exercise six years ago”.he said.

Ogan said the effort was a private sector driven initiative but added “it also involves people in Government because the platform does not recognize any division,we bring everybody together in unity , friendship and brotherhood”he said.

He said the effort will go along way in alleviating hunger especially following the prevailing hunger in the country.

According to him “you know the country is very tough, people are hungry people are starving, there is a whole lot of economic hardship,so for us, this is just our own way of reaching out, our own social contribution to what is very difficult”he said.

Over eleven thousand persons were fed in the just concluded exercise.
Areas of coverage include, Isaac Boro park, Port Harcourt prison/Macoba, Borokiri/Enugu waterside Bundu areas Waterlines and others.

Some of the beneficiaries including an 80 years old widow commended the movement for the annual programm and urged other organizations to emulate them

 

John Bibor,/Esuuk Oyet/Suotor Memoye /Jeremiah Hannah

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We’ll Partner Private Sector to Industrialize Rivers State – Fubara …Hints Revitalization of Ahoada, Trans Amadi Industrial layout

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Rivers State Governor , Sir Siminialayi Fubara says the industrialization of the state remains a key drive of his administration.
Speaking through Director General of the Rivers  State Investment Promotion Agency, Dr. Chamberlain Peterside at the Shell Gas Limited and Manufacturers Association of Nigeria(MAN) Investors Forum held in Port Harcourt, Fubara stressed that public /private partnership is key to revive production in the state.
“We are ready to partner Shell Gas Limited to revive manufacturing in Rivers State at Ahoada Industrial Park, and the new Port City project, including the proposed Bonny Industrial Park which will grow industries along the Bonny corridor” he declared.
Part of the scheme, he further stated is to collaborate with Shell Gas Limited and the private sector to transform Rivers State into a major manufacturing hub in the South of Nigeria.
Commending Shell and MAN for leading the frontline, Sir. Fubara said,” the time to act is now  and thank God Shell is taking the lead to prioritize gas.”
The governor opined that the gas sector provides huge investment opportunities to drive the state economy as the world is gradually shifting towards gas and other environment friendly energy, while urging stakeholders to evolve an actionable gas policy for the state.
Earlier in his remarks, Shell Gas Limited Head of Gas Distribution, Mr. Chukwuka Amos-Ejesi said it is high time the state utilized its huge gas resource.
“Today gas offers investors opportunities and raises the value chain as it boosts production for industry users,” Amos-Ejesi said.
The Shell Gas Distribution executive said the company seeks to support manufacturing by adopting a user friendly approach that allows manufacturers to grow profitably with affordable cheaper energy.
He explained that natural gas provides huge potentials and aligns with federal government  policy of gas utilization.
Chairman of MAN Rivers and Bayelsa Branch, Elder Vincent Okugu described gas as the backbone of manufacturing.
He said the forum has become timely and key to address the pressing energy provision to boost production in the sector, as he lamented the high costs borne by manufacturers in sourcing energy alternatives.
In her remarks, Chairperson of  the Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce Industry Mines and Agriculture, Dr. Chinyere Ngozi Nwoga commended Shell for the forum which she described as a bridge to reduce gap of energy provision for manufacturers.
Ngozi Nwoga said the transition to natural gas has become imperative, stressing that pipeline gas offers cheaper and smooth energy provision for industries.
Former MAN chairperson for Rivers and Bayelsa States, Mrs Emilia Akpan was of the view that the quest to provide cheap energy should be driven with technical manpower, as she emphasized  need for Rivers State to recreate its economy.
By Kevin Nengia
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SheVentures Open Zero-interest Loan Applications for Women Entrepreneurs

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First City Monument Bank (FCMB) has opened a new round of applications for its SheVentures proposition, offering zero-interest loans of up to N10 million to women entrepreneurs to ease access to working capital and support business growth.
The facility provides loans ranging from N500,000 to N5 million under a general category, and N5 million to N10 million for sector-specific businesses, with funding capped at up to 50% of an applicant’s average monthly turnover.
Managing Director and Chief Executive of First City Monument Bank (FCMB),  Yemisi Edun,  said the initiative reflects a deliberate approach to inclusive growth.

“Inclusive growth requires access to capital and the right conditions for businesses to deploy that capital effectively. Women-led enterprises are critical to economic activity, yet they face structural barriers.

“This intervention aims to help close that gap by providing financing that supports job creation, business expansion, and long-term sustainability for women entrepreneurs”, Edun said.

Group Head, SheVentures and Impact Segments at First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Nnenna Jacob-Ogogo said access to affordable finance remains a major constraint for women entrepreneurs.

 

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