South East
Aide Wants Teachers To Acquire English Language Skills
N-Power volunteer teachers have been advised to acquire expert teaching skills and master the English Language in order to add value to the educational future of pupils.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation and Youth Employment, Mr Afolabi Imoukhuede, gave the advice in Awka last Saturday, during an interactive session with N-Power volunteers.
He expressed displeasure at the poor command of the English Language among many teachers in the scheme.
He urged them to always strive to develop themselves by reading a lot to enable them to impart the relevant knowledge.
“You are being entrusted with the lives of children.
“One of the reasons you are posted by virtue of your places of residence is for you to add value to your immediate community where your children may also be schooling.
“In doing so, if you sow good seeds, you reap good harvest but if you don’t you may end up destroying the future of the children which is not the intention of this scheme.
“This is a call to duty for the supervisors, especially for those in the primary schools,” he said.
Imoukhuede also advised the volunteers to do themselves and the state the honour of imbibing the values of the programme by being humble and obeying the instructions and standard practice in their places of work.
According to him, insubordination, indiscipline, dishonesty and truancy are not part of the values of the scheme.
He, therefore, warned the undisciplined volunteers that the scheme would show them the way out the same way they were engaged and paid through technology should they found wanting..
“This warning is especially for those who get stipends but are not working; we will check you out,” he said.
He further told the volunteers there was much to learn in the scheme to help sustain them after two years.
He advised that they should not place so much emphasis on stipends.
“The programme is beyond the stipends; do not focus so much attention to stipends and forget why you are in the programme.
Imoukhuede re-iterated that President Buhari had included the N30,000 monthly stipend for motivation, excluded them from paying taxes for two years and offered them chance for two years’ experience being the minimum needed by employers for new intakes.
Besides that, he said that those who applied themselves to the manuals developed in teaching, agriculture, healthcare and entrepreneurship, would have cause to be self-employed or employers of labour after the two-year programme.
“Your request to make the scheme permanent should not be the issue now as you are worried about tomorrow when you have not applied yourself to today,” he said.
Imoukhuede said he was glad that of the 4,520 volunteers selected in Anambra 4,011 passed physical verification while 509 were absolutely unqualified.
He said, “3,650 are NIBBS verified while 361 are not; 121 of you do not have account records.”
Special Assistant to Gov. Willie Obiano on Social Investment, Chinwe Iwuchukwu, thanked the federal government for the N-Power initiative, which had reduced the nation’s high unemployment rate.
“This programme is a success in our state and the entire country,” Iwuchukwu said and hailed Gov. Obiano for partnering the federal government.
She reminded the volunteers not to throw away the chance as “there are millions of youths out there ready to take up the jobs even without pay.”
A volunteer electrical engineer and computer scientist, Mr Chinenye Anonu, who demonstrated his digital logic training system for teaching, called on the youth to embrace digital technology.
According to him, it is trending at the moment.
Anonu said the transparency in the N-Power process and the commitment of the operators underscored the personalities of Buhari and acting President Yemi Osinbajo.
He expressed appreciation to the Presidency for offering the youth the opportunity to showcase their talents.
The police in Ebonyi State say they have discovered the body of a yet to be identified middle-aged woman in a hotel room in Abakaliki, the state capital. The spokesperson of the police in the state, Loveth Odah, stated this yesterday.
She said the body has deep cuts on the chest and neck and has been deposited in a mortuary. According to the spokesman, it was discovered at Crown Garden Hotel located along the ever-busy Afikpo road in the capital city.
Mrs Odah, who said that the victim was found in the pool of her own blood, said the suspect had been identified as one Uchenna Awoke.
She said the hotel manager, Emmanuel Eze, the supervisor, and other workers had been taken to the police station for questioning and accused the hotel management of negligence.
“The manager of the hotel, the supervisor and other staff of the hotel were taken to the station for questioning and I must confess to you that the whole thing is negligence on the part of the hotel management. How can a guest be murdered in a hotel room and days after, the management is not aware of the incident.”
“We will investigate the matter properly and I assure you, the perpetrator of the act must be arrested and prosecuted. All we are asking is for the members of the public to avail the police of useful information that will lead to the arrest of the suspect.”
The Senate yesterday passed the South East Development Commission (Establishment) Bill 2018.
The proposed commission aims at enhancing the infrastructural development of the South East zone, which is grappling with huge ecological challenges.
It also seeks to act as a catalyst for the development of the commercial potential of the zone.
The proposed legislation requires the concurrence of the House of Representatives to become a bill of the National Assembly, and the President’s assent to become a law.
Senators Stella Oduah (PDP-Anambra) and Samuel Anyanwu (PDP-Imo) jointly sponsored the bill read in the Senate on June 22, 2016.
Its passage in the Red Chamber followed the presentation of the report of the Committee on Establishment and Public Service by its former Chairman, Senator Emmanuel Paulker (PDP-Bayelsa), on the floor of the Senate.
The bill, after Paulker’s presentation, was considered clause by clause by the committee of the whole, and amendments made by the lawmakers were read for the third time and eventually passed.
In his remarks, presiding Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, commended his colleagues for a job well done.
In his words, “Every morning we pray that God should give us the grace to do only those things that will promote the peace and unity of this country.
“I believe that we have shown today that we are committed to the unity of this country, and it is this unity that will give us faith in this country.
“This faith will in turn help us to pursue peace and progress,” he said.
Briefing newsmen after plenary, members the South East caucus of the Senate, led by Sen. Enhinnaya Abaribe (PDP-Abia), thanked their colleagues and members of the committee for their efforts.
Abaribe, who spoke on behalf of the caucus, urged the President to sign the bill into law “as soon as we tidy it up and bring to him, in the interest of the unity and progress of Nigeria”.
“This will put to rest the long-drawn agitation in the South East, and the difficulties in the rehabilitation and reconciliation efforts that started at the end of the civil war.
“All things we see always will end up at the negotiating table, which is what we have done,” he said.
The lawmaker said he hoped the House of Representatives would give concurrence to the bill as it went in the Senate.
When established, the South East Development Commission would be the third zonal interventionist body in the country.
Bishop David Oyedepo, the Founder and Presideng Bishop, Living Faith Church Worldwide, on Saturday predicted that nothing would disturb the peace of Nigeria and its story would change for the better in the year 2019.
Oyedepo made the declaration at the just concluded annual prophetic gathering of the Winners’ family, christened the “Dominion”, in a satellite telecast of the church.
In the telecast monitored in Abuja, the cleric also declared that 2019 would be a year of “I have Dominion”.
“Nothing will tamper with the peace of Nigeria; the story will change for the better in the name of Jesus.
“Nigeria shall not see bloodshed, the Prince of Peace will continue to dominate in Nigeria, in Africa and Nigeria is declared blessed.
“Anywhere you step, accident is forbidden; death will not come near you and our nation.
“Anything that is of grace in my life, I freely release upon you today.
“God has opened the year 2019 to us, celebrate Him because its our year of “I have Dominion,” he said.
The Bishop added that the year 2019 would be a year of humbling testimonies for Nigeria and pace-setting testimonies.
He further declared that 2019 would be a colourful year for the nation.
According to the cleric, as long as Jesus has the final say on the issues of Nigeria, it will experience greatness.
Oyedepo said that there would be no more cause of alarm in any area of the nation and its citizens.
He advised Christians in Nigeria to delight themselves in the spirit of servant-hood, adding that the spirit of Christ is the spirit of servant-hood.
“The Spirit of Christ is the spirit of servant-hood. As you keep rising on the ladder of leadership, you must retain our spirit of servant-hood, constantly working to add value to others and be kingdom minded,” he said.
According to him, dedication is at the root of dominion, saying: “Sow yourself as a seed by being totally dedicated to God and His Kingdom’’.
He told his congregation that sacrificial giving guarantees the meeting of all their needs.
“When you engage in taking care of the well-being of others, God is also committed to your well-being,” he explained. The cleric admonished Christians would engage in meeting the needs of the needy, every barrier on their path of destiny would be crushed.
“Nobody tampers with your life, your career, your family and goes away with it because you are promoted to God’s kingdom.
“God will stand for your defence in the day of trouble. Every sacrificial giver has a defence around him in the day of trouble always have that in mind,” he said.
He reminded his congregation that the Church is not a building; the Church is a people and the Redeemed of the Lord.