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Adamawa
The  Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS in Adamawa
State (ADSACA) has presented foodstuffs to members of the Network of People Living With HIV/AIDS  in the state.
Presenting the items comprising grains, cooking oil, sugar and salt in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, the Chairperson of ADSACA, Dr Halima Nyako, said the gesture was part of the agency’s effort to ameliorate the challenges facing the patients.
Nyako said the agency was collaborating with the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) and the Special Project Unit under the office of the state governor, to train people living with HIV/AIDS to enhance their living standard.
Nyako, who said that the prevalence of HIV/AIDS had dropped from 3.8 per cent to 1.9 per cent in the state, urged members of the public to know their status, in order to control the scourge of the disease.

Benue

Some internally displaced persons in Benue State have
called on the state government and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to provide them with shelter.
The displaced persons from Guma and Makurdi Local Government Areas, said they fled their homes after an attack by suspected herdsmen.
Some of them told newsmen in Makurdi that they had been living on the street since the incident.
One of them, Mr Aho Alexander, a resident of Daudu, in Guma Local Government urged the authorities to provide them with a camp to ease their hardship.

FCT
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Women Com
mission has  appealed to the Federal Government to do everything within its powers to stop insurgents from killing students in the northern part of the country.
The Chairperson of the commission, Mrs Lucy Offiong, made the appeal at the International Women’s Day 2014 celebration in Abuja.
She said, “we are saddened by the spate of killings in our dear country Nigeria, especially recent dimension of targeting young people in schools and colleges.
“Those innocent children were murdered in cold blood while pursuing their education. As mothers, we are greatly disturbed and condemn such cruel, inhuman and senseless killings.

Jigawa
The Jigawa State Universal Basic Education Board
(SUBEB) said it had concluded plans to supply furniture worth N100 million to primary and junior secondary schools in the state.
Its Chairman, Alhaji Sani Abdullahi, told newsmen in Dutse that the measure was to address the dearth of the materials in the schools.
According to him, the board is conducting census of schools that require renovation, provision of additional classrooms and teaching materials.
Abdullahi said new schools would be opened in more villages to make education accessible to children across the state.
Kano
The Kano State Government has released N6.4 mil
lion for the treatment abroad of two children who were involved in a motor accident recently in the state.
The Interim Management Chairman of Madobi Local Government (LG), Alhaji Auwalu Tudunwada, disclosed this at a press briefing in Kano, recently.
Our correspondent reports that the children are Jamilu Ahmed and Idris Yunusa from the Madobi Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.
The LG chairman said the money had since been handed over to the children’s parents to enable them travel immediately to India for the treatment of their wards.
Katsina

No fewer than 324 persons, received free medical
treatment during separate health awareness campaigns organised by some Cotton Farmers Cooperative Societies in Katsina State.
Our correspondent  reports that the exercise, which began on March 6, ended on Sunday and was conducted in collaboration with West African Cotton Company Ltd., (WACOT).
The free healthcare programmes, were held at Babara village in Malumfashi and Unguwa Makera in Funtua local government areas, respectively.
Our correspondent  reports that patients drawn from farming families and other rural settlements were offered free medical services and quality drugs during the exercise.

Kwara

The Chairman of Oke-Ero Local Government Area
of Kwara State, Mrs Aminat Yusuf, said that traditional rulers should be given more constitutional recognition through the national conference.
Yusuf made this known while addressing APC members in Ilofa ward, Oke-Ero Local Government Area of Kwara.
She urged the conference to deliberate on assigning specific roles to traditional rulers to assist government in solving the socio-economic and security challenges at the grassroots.
The chairman said most of the communities in the country were witnessing development and increase in population due to influx of job-seeking youths into cities.

Lagos

Executive Director of  Centre for Citizens with
Disabilities (CCD), Mr David Anyaele,  has lamented the exclusion of hearing impaired persons as delegates to the forthcoming national conference.
Anyaele made the observation in an interview with newsmen in Lagos.
He noted that although six slots had been provided for persons with disabilities, none of those selected has hearing impairment.
“The list of delegates showed that Persons with Disabilities in Nigeria has six slots, which presuppose the six major cluster groups.
Ogun
A lawmaker in Ogun State House of Assembly, Mr
Joseph Adegbesan, has in Abeokuta expressed support for Federal Government’s plan to involve forest guards in combating Boko Haram insurgents in the country’s North-East geo-political zone.
Adegbesan, who is a member of the Ogun House of Assembly, told newsmen that he was optimistic that  the plan would work.
He said the recruitment of forest guards would help uncover routes where arms were being smuggled into the country.

Osun
The Osun State Commissioner for Women Affairs,
Mrs Mofolake Adegboyega, has called for gender equality in  political representation in the country.
Adegboyega made the call at a symposium organised by the Ministry of Women Affairs to mark the 2014 International Women‘s Day in Osogbo.
The theme of the symposium is ‘’ Challenges and Achievements in the Implementation of Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) for Women and Girls.’’
The commissioner said  to achieve the  MDGs, adequate recognition and representation must be given to women in the nation’s political setting .

Sokoto

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, has
urged President Goodluck Jonathan to use presidential powers to stop the killing of innocent people in North East and Benue State.
Our correspondent reports that Abubakar spoke in Sokoto when Jonathan paid him a courtesy visit recently.
“Human life is sacred. I always express sadness over the insurgency in North East and the most worrisome of it is the killing of innocent school children in Yobe.
“This is the height of madness of the insurgency and the killing must be stopped immediately’’, the Sultan said.

Taraba
The Speaker of Taraba State House of Assembly, Mr
Josiah Kente has urged the people of Southern Taraba to forget about their differences and work toward the development of the area.
Kente made the call at the 3rd Southern Taraba Christian Youth for Peace and Unity Summit in Donga.
He said “God put the Jukuns, the Chamba, Tiv, Kuteb, Hausa/Fulani and Ichen tribes in Southern Taraba to live peacefully and  develop the area.
“It is not by mistake that God put the various tribes in the same area.

L-R: Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, Vice President Namadi  Sambo, Managing Director, Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries Limited, Stella Okoli, Governor Olusegun  Mimiko of Ondo State and Mrs Glory Opusunju-Nene, at an  exhibition stand, during the Presidential Summit on Universal Health Coverage in Abuja, last Monday.

L-R: Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, Vice President Namadi Sambo, Managing Director, Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries Limited, Stella Okoli, Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State and Mrs Glory Opusunju-Nene, at an exhibition stand, during the Presidential Summit on Universal Health Coverage in Abuja, last Monday.

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Rivers Deputy Governor Hails PH City One Love For Humanitarian Gesture

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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

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

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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
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SheVentures Open Zero-interest Loan Applications for Women Entrepreneurs

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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.

 

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