Nation
Amnesty Programme Targets Employment For 350 Youths
The Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) says it is set to facilitate the employment of 350 graduates from the Niger Delta area.
Interim Administrator of PAP, Gen. Barry Tariye Ndiomu, made this known at a news conference in Abuja.
He said when he assumed office over three months ago, he observed the number of ex-agitators and impacted communities that had benefitted from either scholarship scheme or the vocational training programmes.
“We realise that less than one per cent are gainfully employed. And that is totally at cross purposes with whatever was intended of the amnesty programme.
“I visited the Head of the Federal Civil Service of the Federation because we have about 350 beneficiaries. They are not necessarily ex agitators.
“But the important thing is that they may be classified as those who benefitted on the basis of the impacted community concept.
“However, these 350 individuals from Niger Delta are very brilliant with first class and second class upper degrees.
“The Federal Government at the time, decided that they should be employed in various Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies. And this was supposed to happen in 2017,” he said.
The PAP boss explained that till now, none of them had been employed, in spite of the presidential directive to that effect.
He said he had audience with the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, adding that as a follow up, he was trying to make contact with the office of the Vice President, because it was also very much involved in trying to ensure that these 350 youths from Niger delta were gainfully employed.
“As a matter of fact, they had actually been distributed to various federal ministries. The numbers were stated in correspondences. So I realised that I needed to give it that particular push which I can show you some progress.
“The Head of Civil Service of the Federation is very kind and magnanimous. She is looking into it.
“I believe that by the time the vice president gets involved, I am positive that before long, we will have these 350 individuals gainfully employed in various ministries of the federal civil service”, he said.
Ndiomu noted that on assumption of duty, he had a clear mandate from the Office of the National Security Adviser on what was expected of him to do.
According to him, there is a clear directive to put an end to our contract awards.
“And of course, that also meant that we had to discontinue the award of scholarships and other programmes other than the ongoing programmes that we have.
“Now, the idea behind that directive was to enable me, in the new dispensation, to take stock of the activities of the PAP and to see how we could bring the programme back to actualising its original magnets at the time.
“The programme was supposed to terminate in 2015, but some things happened; the numbers of ex-agitators kept increasing until eventually the concept of impacted communities was introduced.
“And that further expanded the number of ex-agitators that was initially captured and I believe personally, it was from that point that the programme started to deviate from its original vision.
“This is because, the figures of ex-agitators kept increasing from about over 19,000 until it got up to 30,000. There were other reasons given for that initiation exclusion of others,” he said.
The PAP boss further explained that on the scholarship schemes, the beneficiaries were not even the agitators; it became more or less like a social welfare programme that cut across the entire Niger Delta.
He added that one of the directives in the mandate given him was to carry out an audit and education audit to ascertain the number of Niger Delta ex-agitators that had been trained in the educational institutions across the country and overseas.
He added that the audit programme was still ongoing.
“However, we have just received the report of the education audit. We are studying it at the moment, but I think, snippets of it, I can give for now is that three quarters of the beneficiaries are not the actual agitators that the programme was intended to get,” he said.
Nation
Gombe Opens Bid For Construction Of Three-Arm Zone Project
Gombe State Ministry of Works, Housing and Transportation has opened bids for the construction of three arms zone complexes within the Gombe Capital Special Development Zone which held at the Ministry’s conference hall.
Speaking while presiding over the bid opening proceedings, the Commissioner, Engr. . Usman Maijama’a Kallamu assured the bidders that the bid opening would be carried out using procurement process which is based on specific regulations that are credible, fair, and transparent.
The Commissioner, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Alh. Idris Yambiu Buba said that the Ministry will continue to align itself for optimal results in the implementation of government policies and projects in line with Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya’s commitment to bringing development to the State.
While assuring the bidders of a transparent process, the SSA to the Governor on Special Project, Arch. Yakubu Mamman thanked Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya for his foresight in infrastructural development of the State, adding that government is committed to ensuring that all bidders had an equal chance to participate and compete based on merit to maintain standards and specifications.
Nation
Gov Mbah Signs Bill To Establish Teaching Hospital In Enugu
Governor of Enugu State, Dr Peter Mbah, yesterday, signed the Enugu State University of Medical and Applied Sciences (SUMAS) Teaching Hospital Bill 2024 into Law, promising to expedite action to actualise the teaching hospital immediately to provide quality training and healthcare services in the Enugu North part of the State and the State in general.
Mbah, while commending the Enugu State House of Assembly for accelerating action on the processing and passage of the Executive Bill, said that establishing SUMAS Teaching Hospital was in line with his manifesto.
He said, “What we have done by signing into law the Enugu State University of Medical and Applied Sciences Teaching Hospital Bill is that we now have in place a legal framework to immediately begin to put in place all that is required to upgrade SUMAS to a teaching hospital. This is part of our campaign promises and we are committed to delivering on that expeditiously.
“We believe that the importance and significance of siting a teaching hospital in our Enugu North zone can never be lost on us. So, we are not going to spend any time in making sure that everything that is necessary and required to upgrade and get the teaching hospital operational is put in place. With this Law, we are going to redouble our commitment and our efforts to achieve that.”
He assured the Governing Council and the Management of SUMAS of his continued support, adding that his administration would equally be counting on their pedigree and contacts to bring the teaching hospital to fruition in record time.
“We are going to continue to support you and we are also going to continue to count on your experience, network, and profile in raising resources to actualize the project.
“This year alone, we are going to spend 33 per cent of our budget on education. This underscores the importance of education to this administration. So, be sure to come to us whenever there is a need. We are going to support you because we are interested in education and we are investing heavily in it,” he said.
On his part, the Speaker, Enugu State House of Assembly, Hon. Uchenna Ugwu, who also spoke at the Bill signing witnessed by the Chairman of SUMAS Governing Council, Msgr. Obiora Ike, and the Vice Chancellor, Prof. James Ogbonna, and top hierarchies of the institution, commended Governor Mbah’s speed and faithfulness in delivering on his campaign promises. He assured that the House of Assembly was ever ready to fast-track every executive bill that would impact positively on the state and its people.
“We promised we are going to support this administration by doing our job expeditiously to ensure that there is no delay in your delivery of democracy dividends to our people. Therefore, the SUMAS Teaching Hospital Bill received expedited hearing and today you have the signing of the bill into law,” he stated.
Nation
Ododo Applauds Security Agencies Over Rescue Of 43 Bus Passengers
Kogi State Governor, Ahmed Usman Ododo has applauded security agencies in the State for their efforts in the rescue of 43 bus passengers.
The Special Adviser on Media to the Governor, Ismaila Isah disclosed this in a statement yesterday.
The statement noted that the governor welcomed the news of the release of the abducted bus passengers in Okehi Local Government Area of the State and called for sustained collaboration between security agencies and local communities to improve intelligence gathering and prevent crime and criminality in all parts of the state.
Ododo commended the caretaker chairman of Okehi LGA, Mr Amoka Eneji, the Nigeria Police, Nigeria Professional Hunters, Ebira Local Hunters Group and other security agencies for their intervention, which led to the rescue of the passengers who were abducted outside the state.
“Governor Ododo also commends the response of security agencies to the robbery incidence in Felele area of Lokoja and called for more urgency in addressing cases of insecurity in any part of the state.
“The Governor reassured the people of the state that his administration will not relent in its efforts in deploying maximum resources to ensure that all communities in the state remain unsafe for criminal elements.”
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