Nation
THE STATES
Adamawa
The Lamido of Adamawa, Alhaji Barkindo
Mustapha, has commended the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria (LCCN) for its commitment to peaceful co-existence in the state.
Mustapha who made the commendation last Thursday, when he received Nemuel Babba, the Archbishop of LCCN in Yola said that Adamawa Emirate Council appreciated the role played by the Church to promote peace in the state.
He assured Babba of the council’s commitment to work with Christians to promote peace and unity in the state and nation at large. The monarch congratulated the Church for its centenary celebration and wished it successful celebration.
FCT
Justice Mudashiru Oniyangi of an FCT High Court last
Thursday adjourned to October 28, adoption of final written addresses by Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in a N10 billion damage claims.
Okonjo-Iweala, on March 5, 2012, filed a libel suit against a U.S.-based online news medium, Pointblank News Communication and its directors.
Oniyangi gave the order when counsel to Okonjo-Iweala, Munachiso Michealm failed to appear in court.
“I will grant this final adjournment at the instance of the claimant and the defendants because parties have not made known to the court why they are absent. If on the next adjourned date the parties are not present, the applicable provision of the rules will be invoked,” he said.
Kaduna
A house wife, Zainab Auwal, who claimed her husband,
Sani Yunusa had abandoned her one year after their marriage, has gone to the Magajin gari Sharia Court II, Kaduna, seeking for divorce.
According to her, the husband is also in the habit of beating her, failing to provide food, accommodation and other services expected of him.
Auwal told the court last Thursday that since they got married a year ago, the man only provided food steadily to the family for two months, and was unable to pay house rent.
The situation, she said, had led to their ejection from their rented accommodation four months ago, forcing her to live with her parents.
Kano
Hundreds of patients receiving medical attention at
the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, have deserted the facility following the indefinite strike action embarked upon by resident doctors in the country.
A relation to one of the patients, Musa Lawan, said most of the patients left the hospital last Wednesday. According to him, the hospital has discharged patients with minor cases to enable them seek medical attention elsewhere.
The Assistant Director of Information in the hospital, Alhaji Aminu Inuwa, said the strike had paralysed medical services in the institution.
“The General Outpatients Department, where more than 250 patients are being attended to daily, is also affected as the few consultants cannot attend to them.
Kebbi
The Principal, Government Girls Secondary School,
Bunza, Kebbi, Mrs Helen Audu, last Thursday urged Kebbi Government to fence the school to enhance security of the boarding students.
Audu told newsmen in Bunza that the absence of fence had overstretched security arrangement for the students.
She also urged the state government to provide additional hostels, water supply and staff quarters to take care of the increasing number of students in the school.
The principal said the establishment of the school in the area had encouraged parents to send their female children to school.
Kogi
Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State has appealed to the
Federal Government to resuscitate the moribund Ajaokuta Steel Company in the state.
Wada who made the appeal in Geregu last Thursday at the inauguration of the Geregu 11,434- megawatts power plant said that this was necessary to enable the state to reap maximally from the new power plant.
He also appealed that the National Iron Mining Company (NIOMCO) at Itakpe should also be resuscitated to revitalise economic growth and development in the country.
Kwara
The Kwara State Government says it has expended the
sum of N30 billion on construction and rehabilitation of rural-urban roads in the last two and half years.
The state Commissioner for Works, Alhaji Abubakar Amuda- Kannike, disclosed this in Ilorin last Thursday while speaking with Journalists during an inspection of some on-going road projects in the Ilorin metropolis.
He said the state government would complete all inherited road projects in all parts of the state by December.
Some of the projects inspected include the Catchment-Agba Dam Road, Umar Audi Road, Flower Garden Bridge, GRA road network, Oke-Andi-Taoheed Road, Akerebiata channelisation, Opo Maalu-Isale Maliki Road and Alawonla-Dad Road.
Others are the Abayawo-Guniyan Asalapa Road, Kokoronkan Road, Henry George-Mini Campus Road, Apron-Taxi way in NAMA Building, Lao-Airport Road, Garage Offa-Dangote Road, NNPC Pipeline Bridge and Abdulsalam Alao Road.
Lagos
The Nigerian Institution of Electrical Electronics Engineers
(NIEEE) last Thursday urged protesting electricity workers to be patient with the Federal Government on the payment of their outstanding severance package.
National Chairman of the institution, Mr Adekunle Makinwa, said in Lagos that Federal Government was sincere about the power sector reform.
The NIEEE chairman said the government would ensure that all electricity workers received their entitlements before the final handing over of PHCN structures to the new investors.
He said that it was natural for the workers to protest because of the fear that they might be thrown into the labour market without receiving their entitlements.
“It is normal and natural for the workers to be worried that by the time the Federal Government hands over PHCN to investors, the successor companies will not want to foot the bill.
Ogun
The Head of Service in Ogun State, Mrs Modupe Adekunle,
last Thursday said the office generated over N14 million between January and June.
Adekunle said this in Abeokuta in a message to members of the Ogun House of Assembly Committee on Establishment and Public Matters who were on oversight visit.
The Head of Service, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Mr Foluso Osunjimi, said the money was generated from rents collected on government quarters adding that the amount generated so far was more than the approved revenue target.
The Permanent Secretary, State Bureau of Pension, Mr Adesina Badmus, said that non-remittance of workers’ deduction and employers’ counterpart 7.5 per cent of contributory pension as at when due was a major problem.
The Chairman, Civil Service Commission, Mrs Aderonke Folarin, said that over N6 million had been realised between January and June.
Osun
The Osun State Government has reiterated its commitment
to enhance the standard of education through government’s re-classification programme.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mr Lawrence Oyeniran, said last Thursday in Osogbo that the programme would facilitate planning and administration in the education sector.
The permanent secretary said Governor Rauf Aregbesola was committed to the programme just as he was to government’s computer programme for students.
He said the government introduced the programme to improve the standard of education, expand students’ knowledge and learning capability, as well as download text books into computers (Opon Imo) to reduce the financial burden on parents.
Oyo
The Nigeria-Sao Tome and Principe Joint Development
Authority (JDA) and Addax JDZ block 4 Limited last Thursday handed over projects worth $ 120,000 (N18.4 million) to Soun High School, Ogbomoso.
The projects donated were a block of four classrooms, a block of four toilets as well as furniture for students and teachers.
Also donated were 150 copies of English and Mathematics textbooks for students in Senior Secondary School.
Speaking at the presentation, Mr Luiz Prazeres, the Chairman of the JDA Board, said the institution’s social projects scheme was designed and implemented to add value to the lives of youths.
Taraba
The acting Governor of Taraba State, Alhaji Garba Umar,
last Thursday urged the Federal Government to impose outright ban on the importation of rice to encourage local farmers and millers.
Umar made the call during the Taraba State Special Day at the 8th Abuja International Trade Fair in Abuja.
The acting governor, who was represented at the event by his Chief of Staff, Mr Ahmed Yusuf, urged the Federal Government not to rescind plan to ban the product.
He also urged the Federal Government not yield to pressure against the ban on the importation of the commodity, stating that the country needed to start developing its agriculture sector which must start from somewhere.
Zamfara
Chairman Zamfara State Businessmen Association, Alhaji
Ibrahim Sani, says the association will sponsor the wedding of 100 widows to interested suitors in the state.
Sani said in Gusau last Thursday that the gesture was part of its efforts to complement the state government in reducing the number of widows in the state.
He said that the association decided to intervene considering the increasing number of widows in the state and the need to assist in addressing the problem.
Sani said that all the arrangements toward the exercise had been concluded and a suitable date would soon be fixed.
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.