Nation
THE STATES
Chairman, Transition Committee, Prof. Sonni Tyoden (left), presenting the committee’s report to Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State, in Jos on Wednesday (12/8/15). Photo: NAN
Bauchi
Some operators of Cyber Café in Bauchi engage in sharp
practices by down-loading fake police recruitment forms and extorting money from unsuspecting applicants.
Spokesman of the Bauchi Police Command, DSP Haruna Mohammed, revealed this in a statement made available to newsmen recently in Bauchi.
“It has come to the knowledge of Bauchi State Police Command that some Cyber Cafes have started down-loading police recruitment forms for applicants and extorting money from them under false pretense.
“For the avoidance of doubt, there is no recruitment going on at the moment in the Nigeria Police Force.
“The Command, therefore, wish to use this medium to advise members of the public, to disregard any recruitment adverts, in order not to fall victims of such extortionists,” he said in the statement.
Borno
The Borno State Government has said it has purchased
a recycling plant that could convert polythene wastes into positive use.
The Coordinator of the Borno State Environmental Protection Agency (BOSEPA), Alhaji Nasiru Surundi, told newsmen in Maiduguri, capital of Borno State.
Surundi said that the decision was imperative as thousands of tons of waste were being generated by the increased population without a dump site to keep them.
“In the absence of an approved dump site, the recycling machine will come handy in ensuring that the streets of Maiduguri will no longer be littered with heaps of garbage that have continued to constitute environmental nuisance.”
Surundi attributed the annual flooding in most parts of Maiduguri to the wrong attitude of people toward waste management.
FCT
The National Peace Committee has dismissed reports
that it was lobbied by former President Goodluck Jonathan to stop President Muhammadu Buhari from probing his administration.
A member of the committee chaired by retired Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah dismissed the report while answering questions from State House correspondents after the committee’s closed-door meeting with Buhari in Abuja.
According to him, though everybody is free to contact the committee to intervene in promoting peaceful coexistence in the society, the former president never talked to the committee for any form of intervention.
“Anybody is free to come to our committee, but President Jonathan never by telephone or by any other means sought to see the committee.
“We went to see him, but that was after we had already seen members of the political parties; we saw a few members of the civil society; we plan to see the speaker.
Gombe
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA)
has asked the Gombe, State Government to promptly complete work on the state’s waste recycling project to facilitate the conversion of waste to wealth.
In a communiqué after a one-day workshop organised by NEMA to seek out ways to mitigate flood, the agency said waste conversion would equally help in averting the risk of flood.
Our correspondent reports that the workshop, held in Gombe on Tuesday, focused on flood risk and the management of solid and liquid waste.
The communiqué expressed the need for the state government to hold sanitation twice a month, with an effective restriction of movement from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Kaduna
Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i of Kaduna State has appointed
new Accountant-General for the state and announced the retirement of three Permanent Secretaries from the civil service.
The new Accountant-General is Malam Umar Waziri.
A statement issued by the Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the Governor Mr Samuel Aruwan, in Kaduna described the changes as part of ongoing reorganisation of the state’s public service for greater performance.
The statement listed the retired permanent secretaries as Adamu Makadi (Local Government); Ibrahim Balarabe Musa (Youth, Sports and Culture) and Ishaku Shekari (Accountant-General).
Kano
Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State has enjoined
residents of the state to register for their National Identity Cards.
Ganduje spoke when members of the National Identity Management Commission presented him with his national identity card at the Government House, Kano.
The governor, who explained that efforts were being made to make registration easy for the people, revealed that 10 centres had been established across the state.
He said that the government would soon inaugurate a sensitisation committee to enhance registration of people for their identity cards.
Earlier, state Coordinator of the commission, Hajiya Bilkisu Dalhatu, promised to sensitise the people of the state to enrol and collect their cards.
Katsina
The Katsina House of Assembly has approved the re
quest of Governor Aminu Masari to secure N2billion loan from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to develop Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the state.
This followed a motion moved by the Majority Leader of the House, Alhaji Lawal Isa (Charanchi), which was seconded by Abubakar Yahaya, (Kusada).
The Majority Leader said the state government and the CBN had earlier explained to the House the importance of the loan to the state.
“We were convinced by the explanations because the loan would assist to boost socio-economic activities and eradicate poverty in the state.”
Isa further said that 60 per cent of the loan would be disbursed to women, while 40 per cent would be for males.
Kogi
A political group, Transparency Group, has advised the
leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to disqualify persons with pending corruption cases from contesting its forthcoming governorship primary in Kogi.
The Coordinator of the group, Mallam Ibrahim Ocholi gave the advice in Lokoja at a press conference.
He said the party swept the polls during the last general elections based on the integrity and honesty of its leadership.
He added that the message of hope the party had been selling to Nigerians must be maintained by preventing any politician already charged to court for corruption by the EFCC from contesting election.
“President Muhammadu Buhari is known by Nigerians as an incorruptible individual.
Lagos
The Lagos State Government has denied sponsorship of
pilgrims for the 2015 Hajj as being speculated in some reports.
The Amirul Hajj and Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee on 2015 Hajj, Alhaji Abdul Lateef Abdul Hakeem, said in a statement in Lagos that the state has not sponsored any pilgrim for the 2015 Hajj operations.
He also said that the state had no plan to sponsor any pilgrim for the 2015 hajj operations, but was only interested in making sure that state pilgrims were taken care of.
AbdulHakeem was reacting to reports that some pilgrimage forms allocated to key officials of the state government had been hijacked.
Niger
Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) in Niger State
has, impounded 482 vehicles in Minna and Mokwa town for non compliance to road traffic rules and regulations, State Sector Commander Susan Ajenge, has said.
Ajenge made the disclosure in Minna in an interview with newsmen.
She said: “We made the arrests through our operation `Good Morning Minna’ which I introduced on my arrival to Niger State in July, 2015.
“The operation is aimed at checking the validity of drivers’ license and the state of vehicles using the roads in order to reduce road traffic crashes.
“We impounded 190 vehicles when we commenced the operation in July followed by 208 and 49 vehicles, respectively.
Oyo
The Muslim community in Ibadan has held special
prayers for the peace and progress of the country..
The Chief Imam of Ibadanland, Sheikh Abdul-Ganiyy Agbotomokekere, who led the prayers, stressed the need for all Muslims to promote efforts geared at promoting peace in the country.
“As Muslims, it is our duty to pray for the peace of our nation because this is our father land; we must come together and ensure unity in the fight against insecurity.
“We should realise that the challenges facing the country cannot be tackled with human knowledge but only through the help of God.
“ When we seek God’s face, He would hearken to our prayers,” he said.
Plateau
The Transition Committee set up by Governor Simon
Lalong of Plateau State says the immediate past administration of former governor David Jang left a debt of N222.3 billion for the Lalong administration.The Plateau Deputy Governor and Chairman of the Committee Prof. Sonni Tyoden,made this known when he submitted the report of the committee to the governor.
Tyoden explained that the committee was made up of 12 members of the central committee, 188 other members were broken into 27 sub-committees, each handling a particular aspect of government operations.
The deputy governor said that government records showed that between May 2007 and May 2015, the state received a total income of N525.35 billion.
“The sum of N747.65 billion was said to have been expended on Plateau citizens in the last eight years.
“The hand-over notes received from the previous government stated that the level of indebtedness of government was N103.9 billion as at May 2015 but our findings put the figure at N222.3 billion.
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Zamfara
Zamfara State Radio Station has gone off the air follow
ing a lightning that destroyed the transmitter of the state.
The Managing Director of the station, Malam Nuhu Anka,told newsmen that the station’s power generation plant, was also affected.
The managing director however gave assurance that the station would soon resume full transmission of its programmes.
He said the state government had already supplied a new power generation plant and the destroyed spare parts of the transmitter, saying they were now being installed.
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.