Nation
THE STATES
Borno
No fewer than 30 pregnant women currently taking ref
uge in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Maiduguri have given birth.
The Chairman, Committee on the IDPs camp in Government Girls Secondary School Maiduguri Alhaji Babagana Mahmoud told the newsmen in Maiduguri.
Mahmoud said more than 4,200 women and children had been displaced by insurgents in Bama and its environ.
Mahmoud said that 20 other pregnant women in IDP camps in the areas were also expected to deliver as confirmed by medical doctors in the camp.
He explained that the state government had set up committee on safe motherhood in the various camps to assist women with complications.
FCT
A non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Dr Radcliff
Save Lives Foundation, has called for support from government and well-meaning Nigerians to alleviate the suffering of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Abuja camp. The Country Director of the NGO, Dr Alexander Nnadozie made the call in Abuja during a medical outreach and distribution of relief materials to displaced persons in the camp.He said the event was organised by the NGO and sponsored by , the National Coordinator, House to House Network Prince Chidi Ibe.
Nnadozie said the call became necessary due to the unhealthy environment in the camp.
“The spread of airborne and communicable diseases from one family to another can strive very well here because of the kind of houses the inhabitants are living in.
“Apart from the fact that the environment is bushy, all kinds of diseases can spread in the camp and the people are still exposed to serious insecurity”, he said.
Kano
A Kano-based non-govermental organisation, Network for Empowerment and Development Initiative (NEDIN), has called on government at all levels to be sincere on the fight against corruption in the country.
This is contained in a communiqué issued at the end of a one-day seminar on: “Youth against Corruption, Panacea to a Just and Peaceful Society,’’ organised by the non-governmental organisation.
The programme was organised for students of Federal Government College, Kano.
The communiqué was signed by the coordinator of NEDIN, Mr Peter Tijjani and made available to newsmen in Kano.
According to the communiqué, government must have the political will to ensure that perpetrators of illegal acts were punished to serve as deterrent to others.
Kogi
The Kogi State Command of the National Drug Law En
forcement Agency (NDLEA) has paraded five suspects, including two women in connection with trafficking of 102.5kg of Cannabis Sativa (Indian hemp).
The Commander, Alhaji Idris Bello, told newsmen in Lokoja that the substance was concealed in several big bags being transported to Abuja.
Bello said that NDLEA operatives at Jamata Bridge intercepted a Volkswagen Sharon mini-bus over-loaded with vegetable leaves.
He said that the operatives became curious and searched the vehicle only to find 10 bags of cannabis concealed in two big bags in the bus.
The commander said the three other suspects in the mini-bus claimed ignorance of the cannabis
“The suspects claimed they are business people engaged in sale of moi-moi leaves and vegetables to customers in Abuja.”
Ogun
The Ogun State Teaching Service Commission
(TESCOM) said it would recruit additional 1000 teachers and 200 non-teaching staff in 2015 fiscal year.
The commission’s Full-Time Commissioner 1, Mr Timothy Adebowale, made this known when he defended the 2015 budget proposal before the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation.
Adebowale said that the recruitment was part of measures to sustain qualitative teaching and learning in public secondary schools across the state.
The commissioner, who defended a budget estimate of N19.18 billion, said that the commission would also ensure even distribution of teachers across the four divisions of the state.
Ondo
The First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, has de
scribed the late Sen. Ayo Lawrence as a quintessential Nigerian who had contributed immensely to the development of his community and country.
Dame Jonathan made the remark in a message to the burial of Lawrence in Iyere-Owo, Owo local government area of Ondo State.
She was represented by Ondo State Commissioner for Woman Affairs and Social Development Dr Yemi Mahmud-Fasominu,.
The first lady said Lawrence had dependable children as the Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on House Keeping Mrs Morenike Waterton,.
She added that the Special Assistant always worked hard and exhibited discipline at her duty post in Aso Villa.
Nasarawa
The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in
Nasarawa State, has advised unemployed graduates to embrace Federal Government’s Graduate Attachment Programme (GAP) to become self-reliant.
, the Head of NDE Vocational Skills Acquisition Programme in the state, Alhaji Idris Wase gave the advice in an interview with newsmen in Lafia, recently.
Wase said NDE was saddled with the responsibility of training people, especially the youths and women in different skills to make them self-reliant and to contribute their quota to national development.
“There is high rate of unemployment which has degenerated to anti-social activities such as violent crimes, insecurity, armed robbery, drug and human trafficking, among others.
Lagos
The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) in Lagos State, Mr Jimi Agbeje, has urged Independent National Electorial Commission INEC to review and if possible, repeat the Permanent Voter’s Card/Registration (PCV) in Lagos.
Our correspondent reports that Agbaje made the appeal at an endorsement rally organised by the Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Support Groups, NGOs, Marketers and Traders for President Jonathan and Agbaje’s 2015 bid.
Complaints had continued to trail the PVC distribution and registration of fresh voters by INEC in Lagos.
INEC had earlier said that no Nigerian of voting age would be left out of the process of obtaining the PVC for 2015.
Agbaje said that INEC must act swiftly to ensure that those who were still complaining were attended to.
Sokoto
Governor Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State said All
Progressives Congress ( APC) in the state would set up reconciliation and campaign committees across the state soon.
Wamakko, at the monthly APC stakeholders meeting in Sokoto, said that the committees would reconcile all aggrieved members and aspirants who lost at the primaries.
According to him, the measures were being taken to further strengthen the party in the state.
“The reconciliation committees will pacify all aggrieved aspirants of the party at all levels, with a view to wooing them,’’ he said.
He added that “the campaign committees will be set up to show that the party is not complacent’’, stressing that it was determined to emerge victorious at 2015 general polls.
Taraba
The TY Danjuma Foundation has donated relief materi
als to over 2000 victims of insurgency in the North-East who are staying at various camps in Jalingo, Taraba.
The relief materials include: blankets, soap, instant noodles, bags of rice, and tubers of yam.
The Executive Director of the foundation, Dr Etta Akin-Aina, said while distributing the materials to the victims that the gesture was to alleviate their suffering.
“The UNHCR estimates that since 2013, Boko Haram attacks have displaced 470,000 people from north eastern Nigeria. “This foundation believes that every displaced person, especially those living in camps, has the right to dignity, protection, security and reestablishment of his means of livelihood.
Gov Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State (Right), presenting rice and cash to the needy in Sokoto.
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.