Connect with us

Nation

THE STATES

Published

on

Adamawa
Surgical teams from the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC), have treated 90 people wounded  in the Maiduguri and Madagali bomb blasts.
ICRC Health Coordinator in Nigeria, Dr Hashemi Padshah, made the disclosure in a statement made available to newsmen in Yola, Adamawa State.
Padshah said that the Red Cross currently has two surgical teams in the country which had so far treated over 1,800 patients in the north-east within the year.
He said that the ICRC was assisting 16 primary health-care centres and nine mobile clinics by providing them with primary healthcare services for internally displaced persons, returnees and other residents in the north-east

Borno
The Victim Support Fund (VSF) says it has donated about
N370 million for the procurement of building materials for reconstruction of eight primary schools destroyed by Boko Haram in Bama.
The Chairman of the fund, retired Gen. T.Y. Danjuma, disclosed this in Bama at the official flagging-off of the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation of 10 public structures in the area.
Represented by Amb. John Gana, he said the VSF was committed to addressing the plight of victims of insurgency and other related violence in the country.
According to him, the VSF expended N250 million for reconstruction of 40 projects in Dikwa Local Government Area of the state in January 2016.

Gombe
The Gombe State Board of Internal Revenue would soon em
bark on a biometry of tax payers in both formal and informal sectors of the state.
The exercise, according to the Chairman of the board, Alhaji Adamu Damji, is to ensure effective tax collection and adequate remittance of the revenue to the state treasury.
Damji told newsmen in Gombe on the sidelines of a training programme for tax collectors from various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) in the state that the need for more revenue, informed the state government’s decision to embark on the biometry.
According to him, the state has been making efforts to boost its Internally Generated Revenue and improve its Revenue Data Base.

Kaduna

The Director-General (DG), Nigerian Institute of Transport
Technology (NITT), Zaria, Dr Aminu Musa-Yusuf, says every Nigerian has the right to live and work anywhere in the country.
Musa-Yusuf made the remark when the Niger-Delta APC Youth-Vanguard presented him an award of excellence recently in recognition of his selfless service to Nigeria.
A statement signed by NITT’s Assistant Director, Press and Public Relations and made available to newsmen in Zaria, Kaduna State, quoted the DG as saying: “Nigeria is for all of us, and therefore, every Nigerian has equal right to live and work anywhere in the country.
“That is why the institute religiously adhered to the principles of federal character during the last recruitment exercise”.

Nasarawa
The Nasarawa State House of Assembly has appealed to
the federal and Nasarawa State governments, to dualise the Keffi/Akwanga road.
The Speaker of the House, Alhaji Ibrahim Balarabe-Abdullahi, made the call in Lafia, after Mr Ibrahim Bala (APC-Keffi West), moved a motion, under matters of public interest, on the need to expand the Keffi roundabout.
Balarabe-Abdullahi said dualising the road would reduce the rate of accidents and save the lives of the people plying the road.
Earlier, Mr Ibrahim Bala (APC-Keffi West) called on his colleague, to support his motion
Mr Muluku Ibrahim (PDP-Nassarawa Eggon East) seconded the motion.
Niger
Niger State Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Re
sources, Alhaji Aliyu Abdullahi, has urged the media to educate the youth to embrace agriculture.
Abdullahi, who made the appeal in an interview with in Minna, said that agriculture has huge potentials for employment and wealth creation.
According to him, the gesture will support massive production and ensure food security in the country.
He explained that the state government had provided modern farming inputs at subsidised rates to farmers across the state.
Ondo
A 25-year-old travel agent, Adetula Dotun-Ola, was
last Tuesday brought before an Akure Chief Magistrates’ Court over an alleged N1,000,000 fraud.
The Police Prosecutor, Sgt.  Uloh Okokon, told the court that the accused person fraudulently obtained N1,000,000 from one Kehinde Anthony-Bejide, under the pretence of procuring an air ticket for him to Cuba, which he could not procure.
Okokon said that the Adetula falsely presented himself as a travel agent before Kehinde, with intent to defraud him and convert the money to his own use.
He alleged that the accused person committed the offence on July 24, 2016 at Local Government Secretariat Shopping Complex, Akure.

Osun

A 40-year-old man, Ikechukwu Muojekwu, has been
sentenced to 13 months imprisonment in Ilesa prison by an Osogbo Chief Magistrates’ Court for burglary.
The Magistrate, Mr Olusola Aluko, ordered that Muojekwu be kept behind bars due to the magnitude of the offence committed or pay an option of N20,000 fine.
The State Counsel, Mrs Olubukola Akintayo, told the court that the convict committed the offence on December 18, 2009 at about 6.30p.m. at No. 17 Aiyetoro area, Osogbo.
She said that the convict conspired with others at large, broke into the shop of one Mrs Fasilat Suraju and carted away some valuable items.
Akintayo said the the offence contravened sections 86 (1), 516, 390(9), and 249 (d) of the criminal code cap 34 vol. 11 laws of Osun, 2003.

Oyo
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC),
in Oyo State, says it is committed to ensuring standard in the operations of private guard companies in the state.
The state Commandant of the corps, Mr John Adewoye, stated this during a stakeholder’s seminar in Ibadan.
He said the NSCDC was mandated to regulate the activities of private guard companies operating across the country hence it became mandatory for the companies to comply with the operational guidelines.
Adewoye disclosed that biometric registration of all private guard companies across the country would soon commence to flush out fake and unregistered companies.

Ogun
The Ogun Commissioner for Commerce and Industry,
Mr Bimbola Ashiru, has urged the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) to improve information dissemination to shippers to avoid exportable goods being condemned and confiscated at ports of destination.
Ashiru made the plea in Ota, Ogun, in a message to a one-day Enlightenment/Awareness Seminar with a Theme: “Ports Economic Regulator: A Stimulus to Enhance International Trade’’.
The commissioner was represented by a Director in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Mr Kayode Ogunti.
The seminar was organised by the South West Zone of the NSC.
Plateau
Kanam Local Government Area of Plateau State
has sunk 37 boreholes in 20 communities within the locality in the last one year.
The Management Committee Chairman of the council, Mr Isa Hashidu, disclosed this when the state House of Assembly Standing Committee on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs visited the council.
The House had on December 2 directed the committee to visit and ascertain the levels of development at the 17 local government areas of the state.
The chairman said that the council spent N27 million to execute the project to completion.
Similarly, the Management Committee Chairman for Mikkang Local Government, Mr Vulgab Pabuet, told the committee during its visit that it had constructed 40 lock-up shops.
Sokoto
The Nigerian Army has recovered about 300  cattle
from rustlers in various parts of Zamfara State, Brig.-Gen. Ginikanwa Nwosu, Commander, 1 Brigade, Sokoto, has said.
Nwosu spoke recently in Sokoto, when he addressed newsmen at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Press Centre.
He said:” The recovery was part of the myriad of successes recorded by the military in the fight against cattle rustling, kidnappings and other forms of armed banditry”.
Nwosu announced that the military recently deployed more troops to various parts of Zamfara to reinforce the fight against cattle rustling, kidnappings and armed banditry.
Nwosu pledged to “sustain the current tempo of cordial relations between the military and the journalists, as well as the civilian population”.
The State NUJ Chairman, Isa Shuni, had earlier commended Nwosu for the visit, describing it as the first by any Commander of the brigade.

Taraba
The Taraba State Police Command says it is awaiting
the result of the autopsy conducted on the body of Mr Samuel Awar, a comedian who was found dead by his aides in a hotel in Jalingo on December 8.
The command’s Spokesman, David Mishal, said in Jalingo that the autopsy would determine the cause of Awar’s death.
“ It is normal to conduct an autopsy in situations like this to determine weather the deceased was killed or he died as a result of natural causes,” Mishal said.
He said the two ladies whom the command earlier invited for interrogation in connection with the case, had been released after nothing implicating was found against them.
He made his last public appearance penultimate Wednesday when he went out with his fans to paste posters around Jalingo in preparation for a peace concert scheduled for December 17.

Continue Reading

Nation

Rivers Deputy Governor Hails PH City One Love For Humanitarian Gesture

Published

on

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

Continue Reading

Nation

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

Published

on

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
Continue Reading

Nation

SheVentures Open Zero-interest Loan Applications for Women Entrepreneurs

Published

on

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.

 

Continue Reading

Trending