Bauchi

The Bauchi State Commissioner of Police, Alhaji
Mohammed Ladan, has doled out N50,000 to the state police command football team for beating State Security Service (SSS) team 2-1 in a friendly match.
Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Mohammed Haruna, who made the disclosure in a statement in Bauchi on Saturday  said that the match, played last Friday, was organised by the SSS management to foster cordial relationship between the two sister organisations.
Haruna said the commissioner commended the team for making the state police command proud and added that the commissioner had promised to organise a similar friendly match to reciprocate the SSS management gesture.

Benue

The Benue State  Commissioner for Lands and Survey,
Mr John Tondo has said a restroom in his Makurdi residence was last Sunday completely burnt down by fire.
Tondo, who is also a gubernatorial aspirant in the 2015 elections in the state, however, said while conducting newsmen round the scene of the incident that the inferno had nothing to do with his political ambition.
“This has nothing to do with my political ambition. It was as a result of a problem from public power source which can happen to anybody. “The incident occurred as a result of a spark from the transformer that gutted the bushes around it and mistakenly through the air gutted my restroom. “I thank God that it has not affected the main building and nobody was hurt,” he said.
Men of the State Fire Service and some of the commissioner’s neighbours helped to put out the fire.

Borno

The Borno State Government has announced the eleva
tion of the Emir of Uba, Alhaji Ismaila Mamza and that of Gwoza, Alhaji Idrisa Timta to First Class status.
A statement issued  Sunday in Maiduguri by Mr Kwapchi Pata, a Senior Special Assistant to Gov. Kashim Shettima stated that the elevation was with immediate effect.
The statement reads in part: “Gov. Kashim Shettima has approved the elevation of the emir of Uba in Askira-Uba Local Government Area (LGA), Alhaji Ismaila Mamza and the Emir of Gwoza in Gwoza LGA to First Class status.”
No reason was given for the elavation, but the statement reiterated that the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Garbai, remains the Chairman of the State Traditional Council.

FCT

The Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC),
Department of Development Control, last  Sunday demolished two recreation spots, FESCO Security Gardens and Deos Gardens in Imo Crescent Area 1, Garki, Abuja.
Both spots also accommodated Churches at the time of the demolition. Deos Gardens accommodated the Redeemed Christian Church of God’s Sunday service, while FESCO Gardens accommodated the Illumination Gospel Assembly.
Coordinator of AMMC, Mr Rueban Okoya, said that the spots were removed because they engaged in illegal activities, adding that even the Churches were illegal.
Okoya said that it was not abnormal for the Department of Development Control to carry out demolition of structures on Sunday because it worked round the clock.

Jigawa

The Federal Government said last Saturday that it had
provided fertiliser and seedlings for distribution to 145,000 registered farmers in Jigawa State.
The Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources, Mr Akinwumi Adesina,  who made this known in Auyo, Jigawa said that the farm inputs were provided to the farmers under the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) programme.
He said that the fertiliser was provided to the irrigation farmers for the current dry season and aimed at accelerating paddy rice production adding that  more than 100, 000 farmers have redeemed fertiliser from the scheme in the 2012 and 2013 cropping seasons.
The minister said the government had also concluded plans to establish four agriculture equipment hiring support centres in the state and explained that the centres would be equipped with tractors, riggers and ploughs.
Kaduna

Alhaji Muttaqa  Darma, a former Executive Secretary of
Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), last Sunday lamented that most Nigerian universities’ graduates were “half-baked and unemployable”.
Darma, who made the assertion in an interview in Zaria, Kaduna State, noted that the situation appeared to “get increasingly worse every day”.
He attributed the situation to “massive corruption in academic institutions”, pointing out that students gain entry into the institutions “through all kinds of means and use such means to pass examinations”.
Darma advocated for increase collaboration between universities and other systems toward building strong networks that would check wrong practice and put premium on quality.
Kano

The Kano State Government has fined three tanneries
N500,000 each for careless discharge of industrial wastes.
The Chief Executive Officers of the companies have also been summoned to a meeting with government officials.
The state Commissioner for Environment, Alhaji Abdullahi Abbas,  who made this known
said that the body found the three companies culpable inspite of several warnings.
“The three companies, Unique Leather at Sharada Industrial Area as well as Mahaza and Mamuda tannery at Challawa Industrial Area were fined by the mobile court operating under the sanitation committee,’’ he said.

Kogi

The Obaro of Kabba, Dr Michael Olobayo, has appealed
to security agencies to intensify efforts toward curtailing increased bank robberies in the country.
The monarch made the appeal on Saturday while reacting to Friday’s attack on a bank in Kabba, Kogi State. He stressed the need for the Federal Government to buy police helicopters for surveillance.
“Nigeria should have advanced to the level where government should procure helicopters for all police commands in the country for surveillance. “If a chopper was stationed in Lokoja, the police would have flow it to Kabba to support their men in their confrontation with the robbers,’’ he said.
He, however, commended the police bravery in confronting the bandits and condoled with them for losing one of their men in the gun battle with the robbers.

Lagos

Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, South
West zone, Archbishop Magnus Adeyemi Atilade, called for the commencement of 31 days of national fasting and prayers to save Christians and Nigerians from imminent danger and disintegration.
Atilade, who spoke with the media in Lagos said, “Christians all over Nigeria, particular in the South west should embark on prayer and fasting commencing from Tuesday to February 14 to abate insurgencies and promote peaceful co-existence of Nigerians irrespective of our religious differences.
The Archbishop while lamenting the alarming rate, at which Christians were killed in various attacks on innocent citizens in northern part of the country, enjoined all to partake in the spiritual exercise.

Osun

Scores of residents of Osogbo, the Osun State capital,
last Saturday commended the state government on the bi-monthly sanitation aimed at improving the health of the people.
A  resident of Oke-Ijetu area of the town, Mr Adelani Tijani, said the policy was a move in the right direction.
“I am personally delighted about the exercise. It has seriously changed the face of our environment and made it clean, and the metropolis is now carrying the real face of a state capital.
“It is obvious that environment determines the survival of its inhabitants. It is the number one thing to consider in human development policies as a government,’’ he said.
Also, Mrs Akinyemi Daisi, a shop owner at Ogo-Oluwa area of the town, described the initiative as a proactive approach to healthy living.
“A serious government must take as an optimum responsibility the need for a healthy environment for its citizens, as it will transform to better economic conditions,’’ she said.

Oyo

A  Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspir
ant in Ekiti State, Prince Adedayo Adeyeye last Sunday said the party would win convincingly in the forthcoming gubernatorial election in the State.
Adeyeye  said in Ibadan that the party would win the election because it was the only alternative that could save the state from maladministration.
He said that the present administration in the state had failed and disappointed the people by spending so much on the purchase of four bullet-proof cars.
The Ekiti State PDP Chairman corroborated Adeyeye’s views,  Chief Makanju Ogundipe, adding that the party would win the next election in the state.
essive Congress (APC) administration in the state.

Plateau

The National Provost, Catholic Laity Council of Nigeria,
Mr Boniface Gwotbit, last Saturday, urged Christians in the country to fully participate in politics.
Gwotbit made the call in a Mass at the Church of Immaculate Conception (CIC) Parish, Jos, as part of the ongoing national conference of the council with the theme; “A new Nigeria is Possible.’’
He charged Christians to take part in politics and use the spirit of God to do the right things for the good of the society.
Also, Rev. Father Dennis Kaye, the Parish Priest, CIC Jos, prayed to God to give Christians the wisdom to take decisions that would affect the Church and the country positively.

Sokoto

Nigeria’s Ambassador to Morocco, Senator  Abdallah
Wali, says the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will
win the 2015 general election in spite of the current challenges facing it.
Wali told newsmen last Sunday in Sokoto that the current challenges facing the party were “normal and not unexpected”.
According to him, it will be impossible for the party to lose its present control of most states in the country and three quarters of local government councils where it has solid structures.
The envoy said that the party must, however, work harder to convince Nigerians on its outstanding performances since 1999.

L-R: FCT Minister of State, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide; PDP Bot Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih; Senate President David Mark; President Goodluck Jonathan; Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Chief Emeka Ihedioha; Mother of the President, Mrs Eunice Jonathan; Secretary to the Government of The Federation, Sen Anyim Pius Anyim and the Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe at the Armed Forces Remembrance Day Inter-denominational Church Service In Abuja on Sunday.