Nation
THE STATES
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.
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.