THE STATES

Adamawa

Governor Muhammadu Jibrilla of Adamawa State said
that the era of allocating fertiliser to politicians was over in the state.
Jibrilla made the declaration in Yola when he launched the 2016 cropping season sales of fertiliser.
“There is no more allocation of fertiliser to politicians in Adamawa; the era of allocation is over, we want real farmers to get the commodity,” Jibrilla said. Jibrilla said that the fertiliser would be distributed at ward levels.
“We are going to start with the deployments of fertiliser trucks to all the 226 wards in the state. “We have subsidised the commodity by N1, 500, so a bag will now sell at N5,500,” Jibrilla said.
Bauchi

Former Senator representing Bauchi South Senatorial Dis
trict, Senator  Adamu Gumba, has called for the re-introduction of Teachers’ Grade II Certificate.
Speaking in Bauchi during the meeting of Bauchi Teachers College Old Students Association (BATCOSA), he said the Grade II Certificate was still relevant in the education system of the country.
“After the abolition of the Grade II Teachers’ Certificate, educationists tried several modules of teaching at both primary and other levels, but failed.
“The education sector is in the wilderness because the standard has continued to slide downwards, hence the need to restore the rejected module,” he said.
He said that Provosts of Colleges of Education who were worried by the negative trend met recently and recommended the restoration of module.
Borno

Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Garbai, said that
the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari as Nigerian President, has saved Borno State  from extinction.
Garbai stated this when he received the new Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Ibrahim Idris, in his palace in Maiduguri.
He said that but for the election of Buhari in May 2015 and his dogged determination in fighting the insurgents, the story would have been different now.
“We wish to express our gratitude to the president for his concern for us here.
“But for his coming, Borno would have been nowhere by now due to the activities of Boko Haram insurgents.

Kano

The Kano State Government said it had paid N460 million
accommodation subsidy for its 5,600 Hajj pilgrims to Saudi Arabia in 2016.
The State’s Deputy Governor, Prof. Hafiz Abubakar made this known while launching a training workshop for the state pilgrims in Kano State recently.
Abubakar said the state government found it necessary to pay the money in order to secure decent accommodation for the pilgrims.
According to him, the state government had already secured houses for the pilgrims very close to the Ka’aba, (Holy mosque) in Mecca.  “All the houses secured for the pilgrims are close to the Ka’aba (Holy Mosque) in Mecca.

Kwara

More people will be recruited into the Kwara State Civil
Service as soon as the state finance improves, Mr Salman Ibrahim, Chairman of the state Civil Service Commission has said.
Ibrahim told newsmen that the commission had already identified vacancies in some ministries but could not recruit because of financial problem facing the state. “We are working in line with directives from the government. Where there are critical shortages, the government will direct us since we have vacancies in some ministries; we will just work along that line.
“But this is only when the financial situation of the state improves because once there is budget constraints based on critical revenue shortage, it makes it difficult for any organisation to perform.

Lagos

A civil society organisation, the Buhari Youth
Organisation (BYO), Lagos State chapter, has  decried the under-utilisation of the State and Federal Government’s employment and empowerment programmes by unemployed youth in the country.
Mr Abdul-Waheed Odunuga, the coordinator of the group, expressed his displeasure at a Stakeholders’ Forum on the state of the nation in Lagos, noting that the situation called for concern as the rate of unemployment contributed to the country’s poor economy.
Odunuga said that most unemployed youths had refused to see the need for harnessing their potentialities to become self-empowered for their economic advancement.

Nasarawa

Teachers in Nasarawa State have told the state govern
ment to meet their demands before they will call off the ongoing strike.
The Chairman of the state chapter of Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), Mr Francis Jatau, said this in an interview with newsmen in Lafia.
He said that past experiences with the state government had taught them a lesson hence the need to ensure that all demands were met before the teachers would resume work.
“We don’t want to be seen as people who like to go on strike. That is why we will ensure that our demands are fully met to the satisfaction of our members.

Niger

The indefinite strike embarked upon by the organised
labour in Niger  State has been called off, following the intervention of the Speaker of the State  House of Assembly, Malam Ahmed Marafa.
Our correspondent  reports that the Niger State chapters of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had started the strike last Monday to protest deductions in workers’ salaries.
At the meeting, Marafa solicited for a truce between the labour and the state government in order to reduce the hardship the action had brought on the people.
Oyo

The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Oyo Prov
ince 2, has donated foodstuffs to some Oyo State civil servants to alleviate their suffering caused by non-payment of their six- month salaries by the state government.  Pastor Enoch Tomoloju, the pastor in charge of the province, said that the gesture was to meet the physical needs of the people in addition to their spiritual needs.
“This is part of the corporate social responsibility initiative of our General Overseer.  “We are showing brotherly love and encouragement to them not just spiritually but also to meet their domestic needs”.
Plateau

A Nutrition Officer for Plateau State, Mr Moses Yusuf,
said that 66 per cent of children in the state were malnourished.
Yusuf made the disclosure at the United Nation’s Children Fund’s  mid-year review meeting in Jos.
He explained that the figure was arrived at following the Standardised Monitoring of Relief and Transition (SMART) survey, conducted by the Federal Government in 2015.
Yusuf described as very ‘’alarming,’’ the level of malnutrition among children, adding that five out of ten children in state remains malnourished.
‘’According to the SMART report of 2015, over 66 per cent of children in Plateau are totally malnourished.
‘’The reports shows that 43.7 suffer from stunting, 18.1 per cent are underweight, while 4.6 per cent are wasting.
‘’When you compare the 2014 with 2015 SMART survey, you will realise that the situation in Plateau is getting worse”.

Sokoto

The Sokoto State Government has promised to pay the
dowry to any man ready to marry any woman resident in the state who has been successfully treated of Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF).
The Commissioner for Health, Dr Balarabe Kakale, disclosed this at the Ministerial Press Briefing organised by the state Ministry of Information in Sokoto state recently.
Our correspondent reports that the briefing was organised in collaboration with the state council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
Kakale said that the state government’s gesture was aimed at dispelling insinuations that women affected by VVF and successfully treated were not marriageable.
“The Vesico-Vaginal Fistula Hospital at Maryam Abacha Women and Children Hospital, Sokoto, was established to treat VVF cases.
Yobe

The Yobe State Committee on Resettlement of Inter
nally Displaced Persons has distributed food and non-food items to internally displaced persons in 14 communities within Damaturu Local Government Area.
Alhaji Musa Jidawa, secretary of the committee, said the items, comprising 600 bags of maize, 300 bags of rice, 100 Jerry cans of oil and 600 wrappers, were provided by Yobe government.
He said that the gesture was aimed at cushioning the hardship of the IDPs that were yet to relocate to their communities. Jidawa said the committee, under the chairmanship of the deputy governor, Abubakar Aliyu, had carefully considered the IDPs in the host communities for assistance.
According to him, the donation is in continuation of assistance provided by government to displaced persons living in host communities, either with relations, friends or well-wishers.