Nation
THE STATES
Adamawa
Dr Aliyu Shehu, Executive Director, Niger State Primary Health Care Development Agency (NSPHCDA) says many rounds of polio vaccines are not harmful to children.
Shehu told newsmen in Minna that parents should not be afraid because it boosts the child’s immunity.
“Many rounds of polio vaccination do not affect the child, they boost the immunity of the child.
“We have gone a long way to eradicate polio and we are succeeding and we will not want to fail, especially now that the country is being praised by the whole world,” he said.
Shehu called on parents to collaborate with the government on the fight against polio to make the country polio-free.
According to him, the agency will ensure that parents are educated before the next round of immunisation exercise.
Bauchi
Senator Iliya Audu, Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Bauchi State, has urged CPC to resolve the crisis rocking the Bauchi chapter of the party.
Audu who made the call when members of the Caretaker Committee of the party paid him a courtesy visit in Bauchi on Tuesday said that the commission would support members of the party to enable them run its affairs smoothly.
The REC explained that the Electoral Act provided that all parties should notify the commission 21 days before holding any meeting.
Borno
The price of livestock has remained slightly stable in Borno State as the Eid-el Kabir celebration approaches, a survey conducted by our correspondent has shown.
Our correspondent who visited some livestock markets on Tuesday, reports that prices have either gone down or record marginal increases.
At Damboa market, a middle size ram which sold for N18,000 in June, goes for between N18,000 and N19,000, while the price of a big one has remained unchanged N30,000.
Similarly, a small size ram which sold for N12, 000 in June, is now selling for between N10,000 and N12,000 at the same market.
Ekiti
Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State says the House of Representatives’ resolution asking the Accountant-General of the Federation to stop further allocations to local governments in the state is advisory.
He said it was not binding on the state.
The House had at its sitting on Tuesday, passed a resolution that the AGF should stop allocations to the councils, following their dissolution by the governor.
The governor had dissolved the councils’ executives and legislatures, regardless of their three-year tenure which was still subsisting at the time he replaced Segun Oni.
Oni’s election was recently voided by the Court of Appeal in Ilorin.
The chairmen and councillors were elected on the platform of the PDP in December 2008 for a three-year tenure.
Fayemi’s Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr Mojeed Jamiu, however told newsmen in Ado-Ekiti on Tuesday, that the resolution was not binding on the government since it was not a law.
Also reacting, former spokesperson of Afenifere, a pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Mr Dayo Adeyeye, said the resolution was aimed at making the government to respect the nation’s Constitution.
FCT
The National Committee on Job Creation says about 15 million jobs will be created in five years if its recommendations are fully implemented.
The Chairman of the Committee, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, made this known on Tuesday at the presentation of the report on job creation to the National Economic Management Team (NEMT) in Abuja.
He listed the recommendations to include massive overhaul of the national skills acquisition capacity to help facilitate job creation in the country.
“A key recommendation in our report is therefore the massive overhaul of our national skills acquisition capacity in order to better align the skills that our citizens have to the skills that the country needs to grow and develop.
“Central to this is the need to resuscitate structured, credible and respected vocational programmes to provide the skills that will fuel the growth of local industry and improve that attractiveness of vocational careers,’’ Dangote said.
He said the committee also recommended that core sectors such as agriculture and agro- allied, manufacturing, building and construction, should be adequately explored, adding that a deep examination of the small and medium industries would help to create jobs.
Gombe
The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) is now a united and indivisible family, its National Chairman, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, said in Gombe State.
Onu told newsmen on Monday that his submission was based on the fact that members of the party had resolved their differences.
“With this, our members and the party are now poised to spring surprises in the coming elections,” he said.
Kwara
Dr Bukola Saraki has explained that he is in the presidential race to reform the country and place it among the comity of developed nations.
He told newsmen at Government House in Ilorin on Sunday that his administration would focus on commercial agriculture to make food abundant and secure.
He pointed out that with commercial agriculture, more employment opportunities would be created for the youths.
He said agricultural revolution would also help the country fight against over dependence on oil. “it is high time the nation diversified its sources of revenue.”
He promised to make graduates embrace self employment as against chasing scarce white collar jobs.
On the PDP primaries, the presidential aspirant urged the leadership of the party to ensure level playing ground for all aspirants.
Saraki warned that anything short of that would wreck the party, saying that he was optimistic of winning the primaries if a level playing ground is provided.
Lagos
The Anglican Bishop of Awori Diocese, the Rt. Rev. Akin Atere, on Monday cautioned against money politics, saying it would undermine democracy if unchecked.
Atere told newsmen in Lagos that politicians should woo the electorate with their records of achievements and not bags of money.
Atere also urged that political aspirants should not receive donations for their electioneering campaigns from the citizens to avoid being influenced by the donors.
He said that money politics had no place in a true democracy and that it should be avoided in 2011 by politicians who meant well for Nigeria.
The cleric spoke against the backdrop of the fundraising for President Goodluck Jonathan’s electioneering campaign.
Some groups including the Conference of Nigeria Peoples Party (CNPP) had criticised the fundraiser during which N450 million was realised.
However, the Goodluck-Sambo Campaign Organisation had said that nobody was allowed to donate more than a million naira at the event.
Niger
Nigerians should take personal hygiene seriously, Dr Mohammed Usman, Director Public Health, Niger State Ministry of Health, has advised.
Usman told newsmen that personal hygiene and proper environmental sanitation was key to prevention and control of most diseases.
“Take your personal hygiene seriously, personal hygiene and environmental sanitation is key to prevention and control of most disease. Prevention is better than cure,” Usman said.
He urged people at the grassroots to make use of the facilities at the primary healthcare centres, where most treatments are free.
Usman said in an effort to prevent malaria, the state had evacuated all the waste, cleared all drainages and brought back the environmental sanitation exercise days.
“After all this, we still give health talk to the people to educate them on how to take care of their health,” he said.
Usman added that the state had concluded plans to introduce ‘indoor-residual spray’ to complement the Long Lasting Insecticide-treated Mosquito Nets.
Ondo
The Ondo State Government has promised that 140 of the 150 rural transformation projects planned for the year will be completed by the end of November.
Mr Clement Faboyede, the Commissioner for Community Development and Cooperatives, told newsmen Tuesday in Akure that contractors handling the projects had been given six weeks to deliver them.
He said that N600 million was spent on 80 such pilot projects in 2009 in three local government areas.
Faboyede said that the N1 million approved for the second phase of the programme was grossly inadequate for the type of projects the communities were demanding, which were estimated to cost between N8 million and N20 million.
He, however, promised that in spite of the development, government was determined to give the communities what they asked for.
Plateau
A Don, Prof. Etannibi Alemika, has tasked Nigerian security agencies to be proactive in their strategies toward curbing violent conflicts.
Alemika was speaking at a workshop organised by Governance and Social Research Institute, Jos.
While blaming the elite for most of the nation’s crises, he challenged the security agencies to deal decisively with people responsible for any conflict no matter the status in the society.
“Experience has shown that most of the conflicts are caused by the rich and the influential; it is only they that stand to gain from such crises. “The ordinary person, who is concerned with making ends meet can never be the cause of any crisis,” he said.
Alemika advised the ordinary people against allowing themselves to be used by the rich as they would be abandoned thereafter.
He urged the people to strive to understand each other, saying that there was the need to discard religious or ethnic differences that could prove to be useful tools for the elite.
Taraba
The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has called on the Federal Government to fully harness the environment and natural resources available at the Mambilla Plateau in Taraba.
The President of PSN, Mr Azubike Okwor, made the call during a courtesy call on the Taraba acting Governor, Alhaji Sani Abubakar, on Monday in Jalingo.
He said such a step by the government would enhance pharmaceutical development and tourism.
He suggested the establishment of a National Hospital on the Mambilla Plateau because of its unique climate.
He said there was no point for Nigerians to seek medical treatment in China or in India when Nigerian pharmacists could develop the required drugs for production locally.
Responding, Abubakar stressed the importance of the society in the medical field, saying that “no meaningful healthcare delivery system will be successful without its members”.
The Rivers State Judiciary has denied claims of media reports circulating online that a judge of its High Court issued a ruling in favour of Governor Siminalayi Fubara against former Governor Nyesom Wike and President Bola Tinubu, there by sacking the sole Administrator of the state, vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd).
A statement signed by the Chief Registrar of the State High Court, David Ihua-Maduenyi yesterday in Port Harcourt, described the purported report as false and misleading, particularly for linking a judge of the State High Court, Justice Boma Diepirii, to a ruling that reportedly came from a Federal High Court.
According to the statement, Justice Boma Diepirii is a Judge of the Rivers State High Court and not of the Federal High Court and currently on Easter Vacation, which commenced on Monday, 14th April.
The Chief Registrar further clarified that the Federal High Court and the State High Court are separate entities, stressing that “the inclusion of Justice Diepiri’s name in the fabricated report underscores the crass ignorance of the author.”
“The attention of the Rivers State Judiciary has been drawn to a fake news report alleging that His Lordship, Hon. Justice Boma Diepiri, delivered a judgment sacking the Sole Administrator of Rivers State. This is false in its entirety,” the statement read.
“Justice Diepiri is a judge of the High Court of Rivers State, not of the Federal High Court as was falsely reported”.
” Additionally, His Lordship is currently on Easter vacation which began on Monday, April 14, 2025, Ihua-Maduenyi stated.
The statement however advised the general public and members of the media to always cross checked information concerning the judiciary before publishing and as well disregard the said report in its entirety as its an embodiment of falsehood and fabricated story.
The Senate yesterday approved the bills for the establishment of Federal University of Medical and Health Sciences and College of Education, Bende at its plenary session.
The two bills sponsored by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon . Benjamin Kalu came to the Senate for concurrence after the approvals from the House of Representatives.
The Deputy Leader of the Senate, Sen. Lola Ashiru in the absence of the Majority Leader presented the recommendations of the Lower Chamber for consideration and Concurrence .
The Bill for an Act to establish Federal College of Education, Bende in Abia State seeks to provide full-time courses, training in technology, applied sciences, commerce, social sciences, arts and humanities among others.
Kalu had in his lead debate stated that Bende has remained undivided since its creation in 1976, even though with the size of four local government areas as found in comparative federal constituencies.
“Despite its strategic location in Abia and sharing a border with Akwa Ibom, with a growing population and landmass, there is no tertiary institution in the Federal Constituency operated either by Federal or State Government. Bende deserves to have the presence of a tertiary institution to serve the education need of the teeming youthful population, especially now that the need for well-trained educationists has risen. This is accompanied by the need to fill the gaps created by both the consequences of brain drain and the lack of qualified educationists to provide quality training at all levels of education,” he said.
For the bill seeking the establishment of Federal University of Medical and Health Sciences, Bende, Abia State, he said when it becomes law, the university will be charged with the responsibility to, among other things, offer full-time training leading to the award of degrees in medical and health sciences.
Nneka Amaechi-Nnadi
South East Caucus of the Senate has appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immorttalise late Professor Humphrey Nwosu considering his commitment to achieving a practical democracy for Nigerian.
The Senators visibly angered by the Senate’s rejection of the need to immortalise the late National Electoral umpire who stood for democracy through the turbulent 1993 elections stormed out of the Senate Chambers and spoke to the press .
The Chairman of the South East Caucus, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe ( Abia South), as he did in plenary on Wednesday, presented a motion for immortalisation of Humphrey Nwosu by naming the national headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) , after him , for laying the foundation in 1993 and conducting the freest and fairest Presidential election in the country .
The late Professor Nwosu was the National Chairman of the National Electoral Commission ( NEC) , now known as Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) , who through option A4, conducted the June 12, 19993 presidential election , adjudged to be the freest and fairest in the country.
Abaribe in the motion co – sponsored by 15 other Senators , said late Humphrey Nwosu deserved to be immortalised like other heroes of the June 12 , 1993 presidential election .
He also urged the Federal Government to honour the late former electoral umpire with post humous national honours .
But Abaribe’s request , seconded by Senator Victor Umeh (Anambra Central) and supported by Senators from the South East including forner Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi ( Kebbi North) , was roundly rejected by other Senators who said the deceased deserved no immortalization .
Specifically , Senator Adams Oshiomhole ( Edo North) , in his contribution to the debate said the motion to him, was nothing but an attempt to manipulate and rewrite history.
“ Professor Humphrey Nwosu as NEC Chairman in 1993, failed to deliver on the June 12 , 1993 Presidential Election for lack of Courage
“ He who is not ready to die for something , will die for nothing
“ If he was afraid of the gun from announcing the election results and winner in 1993 , he cannot be rewarded now , more so, when many Nigerians died for what he inadvertently created “, he said .
Nneka Amaechi -Nnadi