The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Food security: Makinde pledges partnership with IITA

    Food security: Makinde pledges partnership with IITA

    Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has reiterated the commitment of his administration to partner and collaborate with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in a bid to ensure food security in the state.

    He gave the assurance on Wednesday while receiving the director-general of the IITA and CGIAR regional director, Continental Africa, Simeon Ehui and his team at the courtesy room of the Governor’s Office.

    The governor, who appreciated the Institute for its collaborative efforts with the state since he took office in 2019, said he would partner with the Institute to address the challenges of food insecurity and that by doing so, the state would have solved the poverty problem by a half.

    He maintained that his government is determined to tackle the challenge of food insecurity, saying: “As a country, we are going through challenges right now, in the economy, they have removed the lid on the exchange rates, and also PMS subsidy has been removed, so these have brought in quite a bit of hardship on the people.

    “If you also look into the needs of the people, they say that if you take care of hunger then, poverty has been solved, so you cannot toy with the issue of food security. This means that leaders at this particular time in this country have to work three times as hard for anyone to even notice that they are doing something.

    “With the IITA, if we focus on taking care of hunger through food security in our state, then we would have been able to solve half of the challenges ahead of us.

    “So, I want to pledge that, even though it is a new DG, as a state we will continue to work together to tackle food security within our state and within the country and the continent. So, we will continue to partner with you,” the governor said.

    Governor Makinde said he was looking forward to further profitable partnerships with the Institute, even as he added that the government would continue with the Start Them Early Programme (STEP), which trains secondary school students in Oyo State on agribusiness practices.

    Read Also: Makinde appoints DGs, board chairmen, others

    He said: “On behalf of the people of Oyo state, I welcome you back to your home and to your state. I like the idea that you have been here at IITA as a young researcher and now you are back as the DG after going around the world.

    “What that means to us is that you have brought back all the knowledge you must have acquired and also you have the opportunity to do those things that, as a young researcher you had thought if I have this opportunity I can do this. Now, the opportunity is here so you have to file those things out.

    “Personally also, let me use this opportunity to say thank you to the team at IITA. When we came in about four years ago, we sat down, and of course, I asked Dr Debo Akande, we have around Ibadan here almost six or seven research institutes, we have IITA, we have Forestry Research Institute, we have National Cereals Institute, Cocoa Research Institute, NIHORT, so I said what are we getting as a state from these research institutes? How have they benefited us as a state?

    Speaking earlier, the IITA DG and CGIAR regional director, Continental Africa, Ehui said the Institute is ready to work with the state government to improve the food security system in the state.

    He acknowledged the fact that the food system in Africa is being challenged due to climate change, assuring the state of more support from the Institute, as it partners with it to deliver on its mandates.

  • First Lady charges mothers to re-orientate youth’s good values, morals

    First Lady charges mothers to re-orientate youth’s good values, morals

    • Hosts national executives women council

    Nigeria’s First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu has charged women, especially mothers, to devote themselves to the reorientation of the nation’s youths back to the path of good values and morals.

    A statement issued by Busola Kukoyi, the spokesperson to the First Lady, revealed that the president’s wife gave the charge when she hosted the national executives of the National Council for Women Societies (NCWS) in her office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday.

    She pointed out that as mothers, the council and indeed all women must be deliberate about seeking the youth and getting them out of the clutches of the negative aspects of social media.

    Tinubu said: “The youth must realize who they are, their true identity as Nigerians and not the borrowed foreign culture. I remember that growing up when there is a birthday party, we all as children will eat from the same tray and this enhanced our oneness then. At that time, the whole village raised a child.”

    She added that Nigerians have what it takes to help this nation out of trying times which is basically compassion and love for one another.

    Read Also: Gusau lauds First Lady for hosting Super Falcons

    She noted: “We cannot wait for the government to do everything. We must lend a helping hand to everyone around us.”

    The First Lady emphasized that she is looking forward to a stronger NCWS especially realizing their strength in times past.

    In her remarks, the National President of the NCWS, Hajia Adamu Lami Lau, promised to partner with the First Lady on the Renewed Hope Initiative pet project.

    She said the council is ready to take the message of Hope, Unity, Peace and Prosperity from the First Lady to all Nigerian Women.

  • Wike’s visit: More parties to fuse into APC says Ganduje

    Wike’s visit: More parties to fuse into APC says Ganduje

    The national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has said that some political parties are set to merge with the governing party soon.

    Ganduje spoke to newsmen in the company of former Plateau state governor, Simon Lalong, in his office in Abuja.

    This was coming on the heels of the courtesy visit by the former governor of Rivers State and minister-designate, Nyesome Wike and some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains from Rivers State on Tuesday.

    The APC chairman said the visit of Wike was the beginning of better things to happen to the party’s membership drive under his leadership, which he said was in line with his inaugural acceptance speech on August 3rd of ensuring an increase in party’s membership.

    When asked if Wike’s visit signalled his defection to APC, Ganudje said, “We did not discuss the issue of his coming to APC or not coming to APC,” adding that “that issue will arise later.”

    He, however, said that the defection of the likes of Wike into the ruling party would be an added advantage to the party’s electoral fortune of APC in 2027.

    Ganduje said: “It will certainly improve the chances of this our party, especially in 2027 and not only that we are coming out with a new blueprint to increase the followership of the party and this we include all strata of officials; those who are in APC and those who are in other political parties. I assure you very soon some of the political parties will even merge with the APC. We are doing that underground.

    Shedding light on what transpired with the minister-designate, the APC chairman said, “You know Wiki is an honourable minister-designate so he came, we discussed because I was looking for him to congratulate him for that and also he came to congratulate me and we discussed that when he becomes minister fully he will work very hard to move the ministry he is giving forward and he is ready to cooperate.”

    Earlier, minister-designate and Director-General of the defunct APC Presidential Campaign Council, Lalong who came on a courtesy visit to the chairman, expressed optimism in Ganduje’s ability to take the party to greater heights.

    Read Also: Can PDP summon political will to sanction Wike?

    According to the former Plateau state governor, “Ganduje was governor, as the matter of fact when we look at his antecedents, we always say he is the longest experienced politician that we have within us. Because he was very long in civil service, he became permanent secretary, commissioner, longest-serving deputy governor and became governor.

    “So with this kind of experience, what else do you need in party matters? So we have confidence in him as he is now here and it is not an issue of one man, anytime he has the opportunity he does a lot of consultation and we are always available. His colleagues who were Governors with him are always available for this kind of work. That is why we are rallying around to give him every help so that the party can also succeed.”

  • Rep member attacked over motion excluding 3 LGAs from coastal communities in A’Ibom

    Rep member attacked over motion excluding 3 LGAs from coastal communities in A’Ibom

    The House of Representatives member for Ikot Abasi/Eastern Obolo/Mkpat Enin federal constituency, Uduak Ududoh was attacked for excluding three local government areas from the list of coastal communities in Akwa Ibom state.

    Ududoh, while presenting a motion on the floor of the Green Chambers seeking the intervention of the federal government to tackle security challenges affecting the coastal areas of the state, had excluded Eket, Esit Eket and Onna.

    The lawmaker’s action has elicited condemnations from a cross-section of Akwa Ibom indigenes including a lawyer, Ephraim Enembong, who described the motion as an “irrational and illegal pursuit.”

    Reacting in a statement on Wednesday in Uyo, Emembong wondered why the lawmaker would feign ignorance of the fact that Eket, Esit Eket and Onna are Coastal Areas, adding that his action was an indication that he was acting a script written by proponents of Obolo state creation.

    He called on the speaker of the House of Representatives Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, to direct the committee on Maritime Safety, to reject the motion outright.

    The statement reads in part, “Recently, the member representing Ikot Abasi/Mkpat Enin/Eastern Obolo Federal Constituency in the Nigerian House of Representatives, Hon Uduak Ududoh, gave the people of Eket, Esit Eket and Onna local government Areas and indeed the entire Akwa Ibom State a dazzling jolt.

    “He presented a motion on the floor of the House seeking the Federal government’s interference through the increase of security personnel in the coastal Areas of Akwa Ibom State, due to the dangerous menace of sea pirates whose activities in recent times have affected the economic fortunes of fishermen in the coastal Areas of the State and has resulted in acute scarcity of fish, seafood, loss of lives and property.

    “The motion, within the light of its outward intentions, was a welcome development but for the fact that it deliberately excludes the ancestral aboriginal coastal local government areas like Eket, Esit Eket and Onna local government Areas of the state as coastal local government areas was to the best of logical calculation, an irrational, illegal pursuit aiming at removing the three local government Areas from monographic authenticity as coastal communities of Akwa Ibom state.

    “At best this is a betrayal of political trust. Another feature of the deceptive motion was the inclusion of three non-coastal local government areas in the state.

    Read Also: 17 Amazons of 10th House of Reps

    “Whereas in the said motion, Mr Ududoh mentioned Eastern Obolo, Mkpat Enin, Ikot Abasi, Ibeno, Mbo, Oron, Okobo, Udung Uko and Urue-Offong/Oruko local government Areas as the only coastal communities in the State when in reality Okobo, Udung Uko and Urue-Offong Oruko are not coastal local government areas.

    “One wonders if Uduak Ududoh is not acting on a script written by proponents of Obolo State creation. Little wonder, Ududoh who just left the State House of Assembly as a lawmaker will feign ignorance of the fact that Eket, Esit Eket and Onna are Coastal Areas.

    “Hon Uduak Ududoh has taken a bite too difficult to chew. He has brazenly jolted the attention of the people of Eket Federal Constituency to the fact that we are presently suffering from a deficiency in representation in the House of Representatives.”

    Efforts to get the lawmaker’s reaction to the said motion were unsuccessful as mobile lines were not reachable, and could not respond to text messages sent, however, to his phone.

    However, the press unit of the lawmaker had come out to state that the action of its Principal was not deliberate and intentional.

  • I almost committed suicide in March, says BBNaija’s Angel

    I almost committed suicide in March, says BBNaija’s Angel

    Big Brother Naija All Stars housemate, Angel Smith has openly revealed how suicidal she was in March. 

    Angel, in a conversation with her love interest in the house, Soma, on Tuesday, recounted: “I numbed myself out after my suicide attempt in March because it got so chaotic. Fame divided me into pieces and left those pieces on the floor for me to pick up. It broke me.

    Read Also: BBNaija All-Stars: Ike apologises to Angel over ‘name calling’

    “Every time I get into an argument in this house, I say to myself, do I even want to be here? I remember how I got here. No one in this house knows this. I have suffered”.

  • Police rescue five abducted Enugu wedding guests, arrest four suspected criminals

    Police rescue five abducted Enugu wedding guests, arrest four suspected criminals

    Operatives of the Enugu police command have rescued five kidnap victims abducted on their way from a wedding in the state.

    This came as the police arrested a total of four male victims involved in different offences of conspiracy, housebreaking and vandalism, and unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition.

    It was gathered that the victims were rescued by a joint operation carried out by police operatives serving at 9th Mile Police Division of the command and troops of the Nigerian Army on August 7, at about 5 pm.

    They were rescued in a forest at Umulumgbe in Udi local government area and reunited with their families, according to a release by the state police Public Relations Officer, DSP Daniel Ndukwe.

    Ndukwe added that the rescued victims were kidnapped on their way back from a traditional marriage at Ukehe community in Igbo-Etiti LGA, adding that an intense manhunt operation was ongoing to fish out the fleeing suspects that abducted them.

    In another development, police operatives serving in Udenu Area Command of the state command, on August 8, at about 3.30 pm, arrested one Chinemerem Ugwueze (male), aged 23, of Imilike-Enu in Udenu LGA, and recovered one locally made double-barreled pistol from him.

    Ndukwe stated that the case was undergoing investigations at the Firearm Section of the State CID, Enugu.

    Read Also: Police arrest three Enugu pranksters for assaulting, stripping lady in viral video

    He also disclosed that police special forces and operatives serving in Igbo-Eze North Police Division of the Command, in synergy with Neighbourhood Watch Group personnel, on 14/08/2023 at about 1.10 pm, raided suspected IPOB/ESN subversive criminal hideouts, at Nkpamte community in Igbo-Eze North LGA.

    He said: “One (1) locally fabricated double-barreled pistol loaded with one (1) live cartridge, components of a Pump Action gun, one (1) Medion laptop, eleven (11) assorted mobile phones and several phone charges.

    “Meanwhile, an intensive manhunt is ongoing to apprehend the hoodlums, who escaped on sighting the Operatives.”

    Ndukwe noted that the arrest and other credible information-guided operations led to the rescue of the five abducted individuals and the recovery of three firearms with two live cartridges, one mini truck, a laptop, assorted phones, household items and goods, among other incriminating exhibits.

  • Naira redesign may force TETFund to suspend foreign scholarship, says Echono

    Naira redesign may force TETFund to suspend foreign scholarship, says Echono

    The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has said it may suspend its foreign scholarship programme because of the monetary policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    The agency said it now finds it difficult to pay the stipends and tuition of its foreign scholars as a result of the floating of the naira by the CBN.

    Sonny Echono, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, disclosed this at a one-day stakeholders’ engagement on emerging issues with TETFund interventions in Abuja on Wednesday.

    Echono said since the agency’s allocation was barely enough to service programmes under its Tertiary Scholarship for Academic Staff (TSAS), TETFund was considering suspending foreign scholarships while also considering an upward review of local ones.

    He said the challenge of scholars absconding has undermined and complicated the TSAS programme and brought it under intense scrutiny.

    The executive secretary of TETFund said: ”The Fund at this material time is also discouraging beneficiary institutions from initiating new Benchwork programmes.

    He stated: ”Additionally, there are issues related to scholars not returning to serve their bonds at their home institutions upon completion of their programmes.

    ”In fact, the challenge of scholars absconding has undermined and complicated the TSAS programme and brought it under intense scrutiny. It is for these and other reasons that this engagement was organised.

    “We need to address these challenges and find solutions to ensure the effective and smooth implementation of our scholarship programmes.”

    The executive secretary noted that TETFund had recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with some prestigious institutions overseas that included universities in Malaysia, India, Brazil, France and the United States with a view to boosting and enhancing the TSAS programme in the future.

    He further noted: ”You will also recall that to enhance the effectiveness of the National Research Fund (NRF), a National Research Fund Screening and Monitoring Committee (NRFS&MC) was established to screen and select proposals from across institutions and researchers for funding.

    ”The committee comprises a senior academic staff of universities and other tertiary institutions across the country. Members are appointed for an initial period of two years that is renewable; however, no member is allowed to serve for more than four years, which is equivalent to two terms.

    ”Similarly, to ensure the successful implementation of the Higher Educational Book Development Project, the Board of Trustees of the Fund set up the standing Technical Advisory Group [TAG] committee in 2009.

    ”The mandate of this committee includes working collaboratively with the Fund to fine-tune the Book Development Blueprint into a Strategic working document that clearly spells out the administrative procedures, framework, and guidelines for effective access and utilisation of TETFund Higher Education Book Development Intervention Funds in Institutions within the nation.

    ”The TETFund Book Development Fund intervenes in three key areas: publication of academic books and the conversion of high-quality theses into books, support for professional Association Journals, and the establishment and sustainability of academic Publishing centres.

    ”It is pertinent to note that the standing Technical Advisory Group (TAG) requires reconstitution just as the NRF Screening and Monitoring Committee, as some members have served for four years.”

    In his contributions, the acting Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Chris Maiyaki stated that there was a need to develop new strategies for funding while ensuring sensitivity to the evolving and challenging dynamics through qualitative funding.

    Maiyaki advised TETFund to revamp its monitoring for quality assurance so as to have a better return on investments in its projects.

    The chairman, House Committee on TETFund, Princess Miriam Onuoha, said in making essential infrastructure available in tertiary institutions, there was a need to ensure inclusivity, especially for Persons With Disabilities (PWDs).

    Read Also: FG owing us N323b, says TETFUND

    According to her, in our physical planning, we must make the building accessible, to be accommodating to the needs of PWDs.

    The former Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof. Peter Okebukola, also called for a monitoring and implementation system to ensure that the academic calendars of universities were adhered to.

    Okebukola, who spoke on TSAS, emerging issues and possible solutions, clamoured for reduced TETFund overseas scholarships while encouraging in-country training in TETFund-strengthened PG programmes.

    He said: ”In offering solutions to these challenges, there is a need to offer TETFund support to top-rate lecturers from overseas universities to come to Nigeria to join local PG training by Nigerian professors.

    ”We must send professors (of at least 10 years standing) for capacity building to top-rate overseas universities in carefully selected programmes in return to bolster doctoral education and supervision.”

    Okebukola added that rather than continuously spending a lot of funds on foreign training, local universities should be provided with state-of-the-art facilities while carrying out accreditation of post-graduate programmes.

  • Patience Jonathan pledges support for Tinubu’s wife

    Patience Jonathan pledges support for Tinubu’s wife

    Former president’s wife Dame Patience Jonathan, has pledged to support the First Lady, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, to move the country forward, calling on other women to follow suit.

    Jonathan gave the assurance on Wednesday during a solidarity visit to the first lady at the presidential villa Abuja.

    She thanked the first lady for how far she hasy impacted the lives of Nigerian women.

    She said it was imperative for her, as a former president’s wife, to also support and encourage Mrs Tinubu on things that would move the nation forward.

    Jonathan commended women groups for their support for President Bola Tinubu and his wife and pleaded that they should maintain their support for the government to sustain the patriotic efforts.

    “You are one of the women that I look forward to, because you can make Nigerian women proud; I am here to encourage and support you because we are one country and our country must move forward.

    “Twenty four hours, I am with you, call me anytime, any day, I will work with you as for the country to move forward and to be better, because it is our country we have no other place to go.

    Read Also: Final forfeiture hearing begins March 28 on Patience Jonathan’s $5.8m, N2.4b

    “When we talk about presidency, we have come and left, it is your turn, we that left must support you to achieve what you are here for like we have archived so that Nigeria will move forward.

    “I use this opportunity to plead to the women of this country to support this government; she carried us along when she was a governor’s wife, now that she is a first lady, the sky is her limit.

    The first lady had earlier commended Jonathan for her support and advices.

    “We thank God that she is here on a solidarity visit and for us to talk on how to move the nation forward. I appreciate her visit, her support and all the tips she is always giving,’’ the first lady said.

    (NAN)

  • Why youths should think outside the box

    Why youths should think outside the box

    • By, Ogbonna Chiamaka Happiness

    Is there really a lack of job or what to do or are we simply dealing with youths’ inability to think creatively outside the box?

    I cannot deny the fact that in Nigeria, there is a high unemployment rate. As bad as the Nigerian space is when it comes to earning an income, I have often wondered if the problem with our youths is also the lack of inability to think creatively or out of the box?

    I will focus on Nigerian graduates. For many undergraduates, there was a time when they used to think that once out of school, there will be jobs waiting for them or the probability of securing a high paid job.

    After graduation and the service year, the difficulty in securing jobs has changed the perception of many youths and many have gone beyond their acquired certificates to empower themselves by learning a skill or more. Some have even become employers of labour at their young ages.

    However, there are a huge number of educated youths that are still wallowing in the euphoric assumption that someday a well paid government job will come their way. Some still believe that white collar job is the only thing they can do as such, they waste many years waiting for that miracle.

    For some, it is the belief that their degrees or Masters or even PhD certificates has placed them on a high stand, as such, taking up some unattractive jobs or skill is totally not for them.

    For these reasons, many have been unable to make any meaningful progress in their lives. Their acquired certificate has refused to allow them to leave their comfort zones to explore. 

    In my years of experience with the world of struggle, I have discovered that good money lies in the most unattractive jobs. It lies in those seemingly “shameful” occupations.

    Many graduates, find some jobs below their standards and for that reason, have passed many opportunities on making a living out of the oldest below standard paths. What they fail to understand is that many have etched a success story from those “unpalatable”, “unattractive”, “shameful” paths.

    Although, I have also seen wise graduates, who didn’t allow their “kwali” get into their heads and have gone down the dirt lane covered in sweat and made life from there. I have seen these people fry snacks at business junctions.

    Read Also: Ohanaeze youths hail Southeast governors, security agencies 

    I have seen some sell fruits and with their advantage of having an education, have added some innovations and flavour to it to make fresh fruit juice in hygienic attractive ways.

    I have seen persons who with just an umbrella, started to roast fish and now have a joint for sit-outs. Others simply make simple traditional meals and deliver to people at home and offices.

    When I newly moved to Kaduna few years ago, I would take a bike and go to the markets just to explore. There I met persons because at some point or the other, we got engaged in one business or the other. They are shop owners selling undies, cosmetics, second hand items and so on, who had very small shops to manage back then.

    Seven years down the lane, many of them are now millionaires. They have built and sustained the “low” businesses and have created empires that many graduates would in the past not even consider.

    So, forget the value of the certificate and think intensely and creatively. There are many opportunities in places where it seems impossible. Just think outside the box!

    Ogbonna is a Mass Communication student at

    Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

  • Why I embarked on weight loss programme, Ronke Oshodi reveals

    Why I embarked on weight loss programme, Ronke Oshodi reveals

    Veteran actress, Ronke Oshodi-Oke, has explained the reason behind her remarkable weight loss programme that set tongues wagging.

    In 2021 photos of the film star looking trim elicited mixed reactions from the online community with many speculating she was battling an ailment.

    Acknowledging she was hale and hearty, the thespian in a recent interview with Chude Jideonwo, disclosed engaging in a weight loss programme following the recommendation by a UK-based doctor.

    Oshodi revealed she dedicatedly took pills that helped her achieve her new figure, seeing they aided her in shedding weight from 110kg to her current size which is between 86 – 87kg.

    She said: “Yes I did, at first people said I was sick. I’m not sick. I’m very strong. I’m very strong and healthy.

    Read Also: Ronke Oshodi alleges attempt on daughter’s life

    “I went to the UK sometimes, I have a doctor there, and the doctor said ‘lose weight’. It was my doctor who said I should lose weight.

    “I was 110 then, he said I should lose weight to about 75. I was like ‘Eleyi po ke’. But he said I should lose weight.

    “So later on, I was just doing my thing but I started having some ‘small small’ sickness, BP and stuff like that. So I just said, ok, let me start doing this thing.

    “I wasn’t playing o! I was taking ‘Speedy weight loss’ at the beginning. I was too thin. I think then I was around 82 from 110 so I now switched off to ‘Fat Surrender’. So that is what I take now. Now I’m between 86 and 87.”