Nation
THE STATES
Adamawa
Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako, has called
on PDP members in the state to support the Presidential Committee set up to reconcile factions of the party.
Nyako made the call while addressing party supporters at a solidarity rally in Yola, saying there was hope that things would be better for the party following recent positive changes.
He commended PDP stakeholders within and outside the state for their concern over the crisis and congratulated members of the new executive committee of the party, led by Alhaji Umaru Kugama.
The governor promised to support the party leadership.
Borno
Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima says his
government has taken measures to eradicate polio from the state by September this year.
He said this during the inauguration of the 2013 Special Round of Polio Immunisation in Maiduguri.
Shettima said that the existence of the wild polio virus in Nigeria was a serious embarrassment.
“The year 2013 is a year for serious action against polio virus in Nigeria.
“It is an embarrassment that Nigeria is grouped among the only three countries still harbouring the virus in the world,” he said.
FCT
The Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) has
banned commercial vehicles from operating in the Wuse Market area to discourage street traders and hawkers from operating along the road side.
The Head Information and Outreach Programme, Mr Joe Ukairo,who spoke to newsmen in Abuja, said that the development would help to sanitise the market.
“Wuse Market is like a no-go area because of street traders and hawkers.
Commrcial vehicles drop passengers anywhere, anyhow they like and pick passengers in the middle of the road which ought not to be.
Gombe
The wife of Gombe State Governor, Hajiya Adama
Dankwambo, has urged orphans, vulnerable and the physically challenged children to be hopeful in life in spite of their conditions.
In a message to a party organised for the children, Dankwambo also enjoined them to be committed to whatever they did to excel.
Represented by Mrs Sintiki Rubainu, the wife of the Deputy Governor, Dankwambo said that the party was organised for the children to have a sense of belonging.
She called on the children to study hard in schools and achieve their goals, adding that their condition should not discourage them.
Kano
Motorists plying Kano-Gworzo-Dayi road have
commended Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) for the ongoing rehabilitation of the road.
Some of the motorists, who spoke to newsmen in Kano, commended the agency for the ongoing rehabilitation being carried out on the dilapidated portions of the road.
They said that the rehabilitation had reduced the rate of accidents being recorded on the highway.
“Before now the road was a death trap as hardly a day passed without people being killed due to accidents,’’ a motorists, Ibrahim Slow said.
Kwara
Head of Department, Business Law, Univeristy of Ilorin,
Prof. Mohammed Akanbi, said in Ilorin that the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) was not doing enough to fight corruption in Nigeria.
Akanbi told newsmen that the association was a major stakeholder in the fight against corruption and must champion the cause diligently.
“The Nigerian Bar Association is being ceremonial in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
“The NBA is not proactive and that is not good enough,’’ he said.
Lagos
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency
(LASEMA) has opened a relief camp for victims of the recent fire incident in Ebute Meta area of Lagos, an official said.
The General Manager of LASEMA, Dr Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, told newsmen that 1,005 persons had entered the camp in compliance with the directive of Gov Babatunde Fashola.
Fashola had on Thursday given the directive after visiting Oko Oba in Ebute Meta, where fire gutted some sawmills and residential buildings.
Oke-Osanyintolu said that shortly after the governor declared the camp open officials of LASEMA began to move in people displaced by the fire.
Nasarawa
The Chairman, Nasarawa House of Assembly Committee
on Education, Hon. Raphael Saka, has urged the government to revive the role of education inspectors, to save the sector from “imminent collapse’’.
Saka who gave the advice in an interview last Friday in Abuja said the education sector had continued to experience setbacks due to lack of monitoring and implementation of many polices made by the government.
He urged government to employ and train more inspectors as well as provide tools, including vehicles, for them to work.
Saka said although government was trying its best in terms of budget allocation to the sector, no visible results were recorded to transform education.
Ogun
Ogun Command of National Security and Civil Defense
Corps (NSCDC) on Saturday said that NNPC Pipeline located at Arepo village of Ogun was set on fire by suspected vandals.
A statement issued by the command spokesman, Mr Kareem Olanrawaju, said the fire was first noticed late on Friday by the command’s surveillance team.
“We received an earlier call by the same surveillance team of suspicious movement around the water ways.
“Our combat team was on their way at about 22.15 hours when the outbreak occurred.
Osun
Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State said the state
government would spend N16 billion to rehabilitate 218 kilometre roads in parts of the state.
The governor who announced this last Friday in Osogbo, while presenting 30 per cent mobilisation fees to contractors handling the projects, said the rehabilitation included some ongoing projects which were at different stages of completion.
Aregbesola said the contractors were selected on merit from the list of those that scaled through pre-qualification test earlier carried out by the government.
Earlier, Commissioner for Local Governments and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr Kolapo Alimi, said efforts must be made to ensure a good job by the contractors.
Oyo
Oyo State Government has promised to ensure rapid
infrastructure development and empowerment of displaced traders in the state who had been “obedient”.
Governor Abiola Ajimobi made the pledge at the Oyo South Senatorial District meeting of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
Ajimobi said the standard of living of the people would only improve with better infrastructure, adding the state government was committed to that through its programmes
He said the state would soon be a model in infrastructure development, adding that protection of lives and property was government’s utmost concern.
. He called for unity within the ACN, adding it was the only way the ruling party in the state would remain in government and provide better governance
A member of the House of Representatives, Mr Adeyemi Adepoju, and Deputy Majority Leader, Oyo State House of Assembly, Mr Kehinde Subair, assured the people of better representation at both houses.
Plateau
The Plateau Government said it earmarked N6 billion
for the renovation and construction of new facilities in 15 secondary schools in the state.
The state Commissioner for Education, Mr. Nanle Dashe said, recently in Jos that five schools were picked from each of the three senatorial districts for the project.
Dashe said three schools would be upgraded to science schools to serve each of the districts. He said the schools included GSS Kuru (North), GGSS Shendam (South) and former GSS Mangun (Central).
Dashe said government’s goal was to equip the schools with the desired facilities, adding that furnishing would begin immediately after the renovation and reconstruction of the schools.
He called on wealthy individuals, Non Governmental Organisations (NGO) and corporate firms to support the effort at lifting the standard of education.
Taraba
The Taraba Ministry for Poverty Alleviation and
Cooperatives has said that 300 youths will be trained in various skills before the end of 2013.
The commissioner, Alhaji Isa Musa, disclosed this in Jalingo at the ministry’s 2013 budget defence at the state House of Assembly.
Musa said that the measure was aimed at checking unemployment.
He explained that a team from the ministry would go round all the 16 local government areas of the state to conduct the training.
The Chairman of Malumfashi Local Government Council of Katsina State, Maharazu Dayi, has been impeached.
Maharazu Dayi was impeached yesterday by 11 out of 12 councillors, barely two days before the local government elections in the State.
The councillors reportedly took action following allegations of misconduct and poor governance against the chairman after a dispute over the distribution of the council’s Paris Club funds.
The development has sent shock waves across the local government area, especially as the impeached chairman is among those who failed to secure the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to contest in the forthcoming election.
The Rumuwoji Ultra Modern Market Traders Association, Mile 1, Port Harcourt, has urged the state government to utilise the available spaces within the area to build phase 3 of the Rumuwoji Market in order to solve the ever increasing needs of traders.
The association, which said this at a media briefing in Port Harcourt, also described as a welcomed development the decision by the state Governor to open the phase 2 of the market for business.
According to the association, “We consider it as an answer to the various cries of the people, because he is a man on a mission who is out to place the interest of Rivers people first. It is a dream come true for the first time for the market to be dully allocated and open for business”
Chairman of the association, Hon Godspower Wobo, who briefed the press shortly after a meeting of the association in Port Harcourt, also urged the public to disregard the activities of some persons whose stock in trade is to cause disaffection in the market.
He said the attention of the association was drawn to the activities of some strange fellows who went about misforming the people about situation in the market, stressing that apart from his association, no other group exists in the market except subdiary unions.
Wobo also tasked the reallocation committee to tread with caution so as to avoid being deceived by any group.
According to him, time has come for the state government to engage in robust discussion with aggrieved shop owners who went to court and those who paid monies to the state coffers and issued with allocation certificates for the overall interest of peace.
He also advised the public to deal directly with his association, stressing that the meeting was to review activities for the last year as well as unveil their new Constitution.
Also speaking, former Chairman of the association, Deacon Kenneth Eze urged the Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara to open the phase 2 of the market, as it is long overdue.
Eze who is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the association also urged the public to do business with only the Rumuwoji Ultra Modern Market Traders Association as it is the only union recognised by the traders.
The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwunmi Adesina, has debunked reports linking him with the race for Nigeria’s presidency in 2027.
Reacting to the report on his X handle yesterday, following a recent interview with Arise TV, the AfDB boss said his quotes were misrepresented and misinterpreted in several Nigerian media reports.
However, the AfDB president denied the media reports, stating that he never said that he wanted to contest for President.
“A segment of my recent interview on @Arise TV has been both misinterpreted and misrepresented in several Nigerian media outlets. What I said was, “I will be available to serve in any capacity, globally, in Africa, anywhere, including my own country.”
“A listen to the substantive and robust interview, which is available online, will show this to be the case. For clarity and for the record, I did not say that I am running for the office of President of Nigeria,” Adesina said.