Nation

Buhari Orders Recruitment Of 6,000 Policemen …Expresses Reservation Over State Police

Published

5 years ago

May 2, 2018

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the recruitment of 6,000 additional policemen as part of fresh measures to address the nation’s security challenges including the farmers/herdsmen clashes across the country.
The President made this known in a special interview session with Voice of America, Hausa service, in Washington, United States yesterday morning.
President Buhari, who is in the U.S. on the invitation of the American President Donald Trump, revealed that additional security measures were being put in place to check cases of insecurity in Nigeria.
“We will put in place more measures to check insecurity in the country including increasing the number of policemen and train them.
“I have approved the recruitment of 6,000 policemen by the police authorities and I directed that those recruited must come from all the 776 local government areas of the federation.
“Even if it means recruiting one person each from the 776 they should do that instead of going to motor parks, railway stations or market for the recruitment exercise.
“I gave (Police authorities) them this directive,” he said.
The president, who expressed reservation on the call for the establishment of state police as being advocated by state governors, said Nigerians must abide by constitutional provision in regard to the matter.
It would be recalled that the Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Governor Abdulaziz Yari, had in February said creation of state police would help in addressing spate of insecurity in the country.
Yari, who is also the Zamfara State Governor, said this at the end of a two-day summit organised by the Senate Ad hoc Committee on Review of Current Security Infrastructure in Nigeria.
He said: “Today we have reiterated the position of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
“And the position of the security summit we held in August, that there is a need for the state police; we can say it is the only answer.”
However, President Buhari maintained that the creation of state police would not augur well for the finances of the states, adding that some of them were finding it difficult to meet their financial obligations to workers and other state needs.
“We must carefully look at the position of the nation’s constitution on the issue of state police before we take final decision on the matter if the constitution allows state police so be it.
“But don’t forget that many times the Federal Government gave out what we referred to as bail out to state governments for payment of workers’ salaries. How many states can pay salary promptly? and you want to add more financial burden to the states.
“It is not proper to employ a person, train him on how to handle weapons and then refuse to pay him – you can imagine what would happen in such situation,” he said.
On his purported comment on youth while in London, President Buhari dismissed the report, saying that the media only preferred to interpret and report what they like instead of concentrating on developmental journalism.
He said: “You know Nigeria’s population is now between 180 and 190 million and 60 per cent of this population is youth that is 30 years down ward.
“You know in the North most youths are uneducated or school dropouts. If not because we had good harvests in the last two farming seasons the situation would have been deteriorated.
“These youths even if they travel out of the North for greener pasture they hardly make it economically because what they earn as income cannot afford them to meet their basic needs or return home,” he said.
“All these explanations I made, they refused to highlight them in their report and you know the media in Nigeria in most cases only do what they like.
“For instance the nation’s achievements in the agricultural sector where millions of Nigerians benefitted financially were left unreported by the media.
“Even when the Minister of Information and Culture wanted to reply that abusive letter written by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, I had wanted Lai not to reply the letter but I said I should allow him to highlight the achievements of our administration.”
President Buhari also used the opportunity to debunk the insinuation that Christians were being killed by herdsmen.
He said that clashes between farmers and herdsmen had been in existence for the past years, saying that Nigerian herdsmen were not in the habit of carrying dangerous weapons while moving their animals around the country.
On what he does during his leisure time, President Buhari said he hardly listened to music but rather always obeyed his doctors’ advice on the need to eat and have enough rest.(NAN)

Nation

UNIDO, Stakeholders Collaborate In Waste-To-Wealth Project

Published

2 days ago

March 29, 2023

The Tide

The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), is collaborating with the Japanese government, European Union (EU) and African Development Bank (AfDB) to implement waste to wealth project.
The Regional Director of UNIDO Nigeria, Mr Jean Bakole, who stated this in an interview with The Tide source in Abuja, Monday, said the project would last for three years, and that the collaboration would support the execution of the project.
According to him, the essence of the collaboration is to ensure that the project is executed effectively within the time frame.
He said UNIDO was also partnering with the Ministry of Environment, as the essence of the project was to see how the organisation could turn pollution materials into initiative.
“The process will help to recycle plastic from value chains of solid and plastic waste of old materials into new materials, thereby, turning waste into wealth.
“The three years project by UNIDO is going to be beneficial in Nigeria, as it will promote economic development and job creations”, he said.
Bakole said the organisations were trying to reduce the effects of the bad materials to reevaluate them into new products with the help of new technologies used in recycling industries.
The Regional Director said the organisations were working on adding value to eco-system and seeking ways to get talented youths
“The circular economy forms a linear economy approach which will have its methodology to domesticate in Nigeria and benefit not only in Nigeria but other countries.
“This is to reduce the negative impact of waste, particularly solid waste, e-waste and domestic waste”, he said.

Nation

NLNG Inaugurates OB-GY Ward Project In LUTH

Published

2 days ago

March 29, 2023

The Tide

The Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited on Monday inaugurated an Obstetrics & Gynaecology Ward at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos.
The Tide source reports that the project is part of Phase 1 projects in NLNG’s multi billion naira Hospital Support Programme (NLNG HSP) in the states of Lagos, Kano, Bayelsa and Cross River.
Speaking at the inauguration, the Managing Director, NLNG, Dr Phillip Mshelbila, said the next sets of inaugurations would be an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital (NDUTH), Yenagoa.
“Also, an Occupational Therapy and Neuromodulation Rehabilitation Centre at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), Kano; and a Neurosurgical and Stroke Centre at University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Calabar.
“The commissioning of projects began in 2022 with the opening of a Maternity Centre at University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH), Gwagwalada and a new Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH).
“These teaching hospitals were selected in the first phase. The programme targets 12 hospitals in total from the six geographical zones in the country.
“The NLNG Hospital Support Programme (HSP) is NLNG’s national Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative which aims to boost the healthcare delivery system in 12 Federal University Teaching Hospitals cutting across the six geopolitical zones in the country.
“The programme started in 2022,” he said.
Mshelbila, who was represented by the General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development, Andy Odeh, said the goal of the project was to support the provision of quality medical care for Nigerians.
This would be through the improvement of tertiary healthcare delivery system in the country with attendant impacts on medical research and retention of in-country medical expertise.
He said the company had helped in reshaping the country’s health sector for a better and more responsive system on the road to making it a destination for world-class healthcare delivery.
He, therefore, called on LUTH’s management to ensure that the facilities were put to practical use for patients and training purposes.
In his remarks, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, stated that NLNG had proven to be a reliable partner in the sustainable development of the healthcare system in the country.

Ehanire, who was represented by the Minister of State for Health, Ekumankama Joseph Nkama, thanked the initiators of the project noting that it would go a long way to better the lot of Nigerians.

The source also reports that the newly commissioned LUTH project entailed the complete renovation and upgrade of the Obstetrics & Gynaecology (Ward C) Block, a four-storey building.

This is with the provision of 120 beds to serve the prenatal and postnatal services.

Other facilities include a waiting room, nurses stations, private wards, consulting rooms, radiation room, and doctors and nurses call rooms, among other facilities.

Earlier, Alhaji Isa Sali, Board Chairman, LUTH, said that the renovation and equipping of the ward was sponsored by the NLNG as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

“It was also as a mark of appreciation with recent salutary developments in the hospital”.

According to Sali, the project execution through the CSR assumes a new dimension in public service delivery not only for visibility purposes but more importantly as a means of paying back to society.

Nation

ILO, FG Release Survey On Evidence-Based Data On Child Labour

Published

2 days ago

March 29, 2023

The Tide

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Federal Government say they are set to release survey on evidence-based data on child labour and forced labour in the country.
The ILO Country Director for Nigeria and Ghana, Ms Vanessa Phala, said this at the National Child Labour and Forced Labour Survey Validation workshop in Abuja on Monday.
The Tide source reports that the workshop was organised by the ILO in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the ACCEL Africa Project, funded by the Netherlands Government and the National Bureau of Statistics.
According to Phala, after 22 years, Nigeria will eventually be able to comprehensively state its situation of child labour.
“For the very first time in Nigeria, we will be having data on the prevalence of forced labour”,’she said.
She said the last global report on child labour released by ILO and UNICEF, indicated that the number of children in child labour has risen to 160 million worldwide.
The Country Director noted that there was an increase of 8.4 million children compared with the last report with millions more at risk due to the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic.
“In Nigeria, you will agree with me that eradicating child labour and forced labour requires the development of monitoring infrastructure to determine and measure its magnitude, distribution, dimensions and characteristics at the national and sub-national levels.
“For this reason, the ILO through its ACCEL Africa and Map 16 projects, supported the Government to conduct the National Child labour survey.
“The National Bureau of Statistics with technical support from the ILO and participation of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment have gone to the field and it’s time to see the figures”, she said.
Phala noted that for over the past 20 years, the ILO continued its collaboration with Nigeria, through the Ministry of Labour and Employment and other ministries, agencies and departments to eliminate child labour and protect children within the legal working age.
According to her, so many children in Nigeria are trapped in slavery, forced labour and trafficking, they are forced to participate in community conflicts; used for prostitution, pornography or in illicit activities, exploited domestic workers, among others.
“We must act urgently to protect the rights of our dear children and restore their childhood as the detail of this survey is of concern to all stakeholders.
“That is be it government, employers, workers, civil society organisation, academia, international organisations, donors. UN Agencies, parents, individuals, including the children themselves.
“We should start envisioning that change we intend to see in the next two years or seven years before the end date of the SDGs”, she said.
She charged all to contribute their quota to ensure that the evidence-based data on child labour and forced labour inform policy review, programming and implementation of various interventions.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Ms Daju, Kachollom, commended stakeholders for the conduct of the survey and their relentless efforts and commitment in the advocacy for the betterment of the Nigerian child, and the elimination of child labour.