The Nation Newspaper

Category: Abuja Review

  • Abaji counil boss preaches peace

    The chairman of Abaji Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Hon. Yahaya Garba has called on Christian faithful in the council and across the country to pray for continued peaceful co-existence of Nigerians and use the festive season for sober reflection.

    Garba stated this in his congratulatory message to Christians as they joined the rest of the world to celebrate Christmas which commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ. He also urged that the period should be used for prayers for a united Nigeria.

    He added that as elected representatives; governments at all levels should continue to provide basic necessities of life to better the lots of citizens.

    He also said citizens should reciprocate government’s gesture by living in peace with one another, saying no meaningful development will take place in an atmosphere of rancour.

  • Group donates to orphanage home

    As part of its corporate social responsibility, the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) has donated some gift items to the inmates of Abuja Orphanage Home.

    The items, which were handed over to the management of the home by the Chairman, Board of Directors of NAHCO, Alhaji Suleiman Yahyah, were 20 bags of rice, 10 bags of sugar, five cartons of milk and several infants’ formula.

    Others were packs of diapers, rolls of children’s lotion, one live cow and N250, 000 cash.

    Presenting the items, Alhaji Yahyah, who said the company would find a way of going into a strategic partnership with the orphanage home with a view to ensuring continued support, revealed that the company decided to reach out to the inmates directly as against using intervention agencies as was the norm in the past.

    He praised the management and staff of the home for the good work they have been doing to make sure that the children are healthy.

    He said: “We are a socially responsible organisation. We have been making donations to this home and others in the past eight years. We have been donating indirectly, now we felt it is imperative to change our strategy by empowering those who are impacting directly on the welfare of the less-privileged in Nigeria.

    “That’s why we chose this occasion; the festive season, the Christmas season, season of merry-making, season of wishing everybody good tiding to share the joy of the season with the less-privileged.

    “We will work towards a strategic partnership with the management of the home. This indicates that we will be seen as their strategic supporter. We will look at their programmes for the year and see which of the programmes we can finance or support. We will also mobilise our people to spend with the home a day that is important to it.

    “We will look at their infrastructural requirements; some repainting needs to be done. We will look at all those things and prioritise them based on our budget and their expectations.”

    The items were received by Dr. Joe Jerry Umole, a member of the Board of Trustees of the home. On behalf of the home, he expressed his appreciation to the management of NAHCO.

    Dr. Umole, who disclosed that the home has 62 orphans who were abandoned by their parents, said it survives primarily on charity.

    He added that the 25-year-old orphanage has nurtured two of the babies to secondary school level, noting that they are already awaiting university admission.

  • Yuletide joy for widows

    Yuletide joy for widows

    The Elizabeth Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, has donated gift items to widows in the Federal Capital Territory, bringing profound joy to the souls of the needy women during the Yuletide.

    Over 1,000 widows went home with bags of rice, semovita, garri, cartons of maggi, detergents, soap, clothing materials and bags of salt.

    While presenting the items, the coordinator of the organisation, Olabanjo Michael explained that the plight of widows in the society informed the setting up of the foundation.

    He said: “What we do is to organise workshops where they receive training. We also empower them. We try to let them know that they have a role to play in the society irrespective of what they are passing through.

    “We set up the foundation as a family to help empower the widows. Since 2004, we have been assisting widows to reduce poverty in the society. We currently have over 1,000 widows that we take care of.

    “We also take care of their children. We have 700 children that we send to various schools where they receive modern education. We take care of their education from primary to the tertiary levels. One of the children of the widows recently graduated from the University of Abuja.”

    According to the Vice-Chairman of the foundation Mrs. Abose Otuba, the foundation will continue to assist widows in the society through training and empowerment so that they can be relevant to the society.

    One of the widow’s Mrs. Helen Tony stated that with the help of the foundation, she has been able to send her children to school.

    “I have benefited so many things from this foundation. My children’s school fees have been taken care of by the foundation. I am not the only one benefiting from this foundation. The foundation has also been taking care of other widows,” she said.

     

  • Kuje council chief urged to rebuild market

    Senior Special Assistant to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Political Matters and National Assembly, Senator Jibril Wowo has called on the chairman of Kuje Area Council, Shaban Tete to rebuild the Kuje main market and bring it up to contemporary standards.

    Wowo who sympathised with the council and all the businesses affected by the recent unfortunate fire incident that destroyed properties worth over N50 million said while the incident was destructive, it has created an opportunity for the Council to provide a better market structure for the people of the area.

    He disclosed this to reporters who accosted him at Gwagwalada, a community in Kuje Area Council.

    He said the market inferno which has no doubt affected the economic life of the owners and businesses destroyed also noted that the Almighty Allah showed mercies and prevented loss of life in the incident calling on the market union to remember to thank God for that.

    Wowo said the unfortunate incidence offers the council opportunity for improved development in reconstruction of the council main market.

    He tasked the council’s administration to maximize it and rebuild the market to meet contemporary business environment status for ease of access encompassing other safety measures.

    He noted that Kuje Area Council is one of the first choices for residence by most visitors to the Abuja after the city centre and this calls for responsive strategic thinking by the council to face the challenge and meet up with this strategic position and responsibility.

    Wowo commended the Council, Federal Fire service and the residents who stepped out to put out the fire before it totally got out of hand, thereby preventing  a major disaster.

     

  • Council boss wins best chair award

    The Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abuja chapter, has chosen the chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) Hon. Micah Jiba as the best council boss in the FCT for 2013. Jiba won the award, beating five others in the Territory.

    Comrade Chuks Ehirim, Chairman of NUJ, in his speech explained how the six area council bosses affected the lives of people at the grassroots, stating Jiba was chosen as the best council boss because it was discovered that his administration made it possible to take infrastructural development to every ward and community in the council.

    Ehirim who made this known during the award ceremony organised by FCT NUJ in Abuja, said that worried by the myriad of complaints of the FCT and aware of journalists constitutional responsibility as contained in Section II of the 1999 Constitution, the FCT council of NUJ decided to set its hands upon the plough of the task and see how governance has impacted on the people in the FCT.

    “For us, it was not just an opportunity to once again be critical, but to determine what other factors might be responsible for the seeming non-performance of the various facets of government agencies in the territory. Today, I can say we are pleased with what we saw and why on site inspection, it is important in giving accurate report of events in government.

    “As to our findings of how governance has fared, we wish to say that a lot is being done by the area councils, the agency and secretariat. However, there is room for significant improvements . We are pleased that in the FCT, the issue of arbitrary slashing of councils’ funds is an anathema unlike what is obtained in most states of the federation.

    “But, the demands on the area councils far outweigh the allocation they get each month. It is in this respect that we make a passionate appeal to the National Assembly to restore the one per cent statutory allocation for the development of the capital city. Doing so will free up more funds for area councils for development given that the FCT has become the Melting Pot for all Nigerians,” he said.

    Ehirim also frowned at the fact that the members of National Assembly stayed away from showing what they have brought as the dividends of democracy to their constituencies in the FCT, saying that it might be because they have done so little for those who trusted them with the mandate they hold or they have done nothing to justice the constituency allowance that they receive.

    AMAC boss, Hon. Micah Jiba, recipient of the Gold Award, commended the NUJ FCT for the projects inspection and presentation of award to performing council chairman, saying that the gesture will spur them up and put the leaders on their feet to do more for their council.

    Hon. Ibrahim Daniel, the chairman of Kwali area council was given the Award for the Best Initiative for Rural Development, Prince Aruna Momoh was given Award of Excellence in Public Accountability, Mrs Blessing Onuh, was awarded FCT Secretariat of the Year, Hon. Yahaya Garba, Chairman of Abaji area council was given Silver Award and Hon. Peter Yohanna, Bwari area council was given a Silver Award.

     

  • ‘We should learn to give more’

    ‘We should learn to give more’

    The Chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) Hon. Micah Jiba has called on Christians and non- Christians to exhibit the spirit of giving during the Christmas and New Year celebrations, so that Nigeria would be a better place for everyone.

    Jiba who made this call in his message, said that when Nigerians learn to give to the less privileged in the society, it would encourage love to grow in Nigeria and reduce the insecurity challenges.

    According to Jiba, Christmas is a period which should be used to demonstrate love amongst every Nigerian, irrespective of their religious differences, saying that the only way Christians can demonstrate the spirit of Christmas is to give to their neighbours even if they are not Christians.

    “Christmas signifies the birth of Jesus Christ who died for our sins, which is a good example of giving, because if God did not give us Jesus Christ, sin would still be having control over the world. So, we all should learn to have the spirit of giving and showing love during this period.

    “I want to also urge everybody to live in peace and eschew things that would cause violence during this period; we should see the period as a time of felicitating with one another, so that we will make Nigeria a better and peaceful place.

    “As we are entering 2014, I also pray that those things that we did not achieve this year, we be ours next year. I urge all Nigerians to support and pray for the government under President Goodluck Jonathan and the nation, so that 2014 will be a better year for all Nigerians,” he said.

     

  • Minister seeks peaceful coexistence

    Minister seeks peaceful coexistence

    The Federal Capital Territory FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed has urged residents of the Federal Capital Territory to eschew violence and live as one family.

    The Minister made the exhortation while receiving the officials of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), FCT Chapter led by Rev. Israel Akanji that paid him Christmas Homage in his official Residence, Gwarinpa I District, Abuja.

    Senator Mohammed emphasized that violence cannot take anybody anywhere, adding peace opens doors to growth, development and prosperity.

    The Minister called for continued peaceful co-existence amongst all the residents of the Federal Capital Territory irrespective of political or religious inclinations.

    He appreciated the visit on this auspicious day  of Christmas and thanked the leadership of both Christian and Muslim religions in the Federal Capital Territory for the responsible role they have always been playing in the day to day live of the Territory.

    According to him, the leadership of these two religions have shown wisdom and responsibility in conduct as well as relationship with their followers, resident in the Federal Capital Territory.

    Senator Mohammed challenged religious leaders in the 36 states of the federation to emulate the exemplary posture of the FCT religious leaders by replicating what they are doing in the FCT to ensure that the whole nation is at peace at all the times.

    While assuring them that his Administration will continue to support them in achieving their target goals, he also urged them to remain supportive to the government of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    His words: “I urge you to continue to support the government of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to continue in its Transformation Agenda”.

    Speaking earlier, the FCT CAN Chairman, Rev. Israel Akanji prayed that Nigeria and its leadership would continue to be in peace and grow from strength to strength.

    Rev. Akanji revealed that FCT CAN recently held an election and that seven of the members of the Executive were re-elected which he attributed to the wonderful cooperation they have been receiving from the FCT Minister.

    He reiterated that they were very happy to have served their people ie. Christian Community living in FCT, during the tenure of Senator Bala Mohammed as Minister.

    Rev. Akanji said that Senator Mohammed has always been promoting religious harmony, which has made their jobs as religious leaders very easy.

    In a statement to mark the 2013 Christmas celebrations, the minister spoke further on love and peace. In the document released by his Chief Press Secretary, Muhammad Sule, the Minister “congratulated the residents, particularly the Christians on this occasion and remarked that the celebration calls for sober reflection as well as emulating the good works of Jesus Christ.

    “He further charged residents of the Federal Capital Territory to rededicate themselves to the service of God and humanity to make the World a better place.

    The Minister expressed gratitude to God for the privilege and mercy He has granted, as Nigerians join Christians in other parts of the World to commemorate this day in an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity.

    “He appealed to all residents of the Federal Capital Territory to continue to be good neighbours to their fellow residents, irrespective of religious belief because the best in the sight of God is the most pious.

    “Senator Mohammed enjoined residents to resolve in our commitment to make selfless service to growth and development of the nation.

    “The Minister also appealed to them to continue to supplicate to God for the well-being, peace and prosperity of our nation as well as its leadership.

    The Minister urged Christians to use the occasion to reflect on the life of Jesus Christ and to continue to imbibe his teachings, which are primarily premised on selflessness, sacrifice, patience, modesty and spirituality.

    “Senator Mohammed remarked that the celebration also calls for sober reflection and spiritual rejuvenation as Jesus Christ lived his life for the entire mankind.

    On security, the Minister assured that all security outfits in the Federal Capital Territory are adequately prepared to be on top of any unexpected security breach during and after the festivity period.

    “He further assured that the FCT Administration will continue to guarantee the security of the lives and property of all residents of the Federal Capital Territory , irrespective of political or religious affiliations and therefore called on residents to always report any suspicious movement to the law enforcement agents.”

     

  • ‘Nigeria’s health awareness poor’

    ‘Nigeria’s health awareness poor’

    THE latest ranking by World Health Organisation (WHO) has placed Nigeria among countries with poor health care profiles.

    The WHO said the country is 187th out of 191 members states in terms of health delivery, prompting concern by a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Social Welfare Network Initiative. The group reiterated the need to augment government effort to increase the health care delivery.

    The WHO report revealed that the most vulnerable groups in the environment are the rural dwellers, the elderly, women, infants and the poor who constitute over 80% of the population.

    Due to this revelation, the Social Welfare Network Initiative in collaboration with the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), CITEC Estate recently offered free medical care to Abuja residents.

    The group attributed the poor health knowledge of residents to poverty and poor reading habit.

    According to Dr. Akunna Adejuwon, “The level of knowledge is very poor. A lot don’t know anything on what is wrong with them. As an optometrist, I see a lot of people who are going blind and they have no knowledge about it.

    Speaking on the essence of the outreach, Dr. Adejuwon said is to reach out to the needy and to ensure they are properly taken care of.

    She said, “Some people are poor and cannot really take care of their health, so we are providing free medical services to them to make sure that their body is in good shape. Cases that need referral, we refer them to appropriate authorities.

    “If you don’t check your body regularly, you will not know what is wrong and that is why we have cases of people slumping and dying. We are here to checkmate and ensure that they are medically fit to do their businesses.

    “The poor health knowledge is because Nigerians don’t read. Most Africans don’t want to read not knowing that reading makes one gain knowledge and more exposure. You will hardly see anybody sit down and read about their health, they would rather go about their business. They know how to calculate but when it comes to health related issues, they don’t care and it is responsible for sudden death.”, she added

    Also speaking, Senior Pastor of the Church, Prof. Anthony Aderibigbe said the essence of the free medical care is to do Christ like activities.

    He explained, “When Jesus came into the world, he came primarily for the salvation of our souls and in Luke 4:18; Christ came to also heal people and for those who are blind, he made them see. Those are the missions of Christ. He did not only care for our souls, he cared for our health and that is why a lot of miracles had a lot to do with healing.

    “We come to church to preach, excellent, we pray, excellent but there are people suffering from afflictions and diseases that God has given us knowledge to handle. So, we care for people and we will allow Jesus finish the work of healing.

    Over 12 specialized doctors were on ground to render their services.

    Some of the services rendered were free eye test, physiotherapy care, blood test, sugar level, and blood pressure test. Eye glasses and drugs were given to those diagnosed with different ailments.

     

  • Abaji community should enjoy better infrastructure, says NUJ chief

    Abaji community should enjoy better infrastructure, says NUJ chief

    The Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abuja chapter, has appealed to the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and federal Government to alleviate the suffering of indigenes of Agyana Pandagi community in Abaji area council of the Abuja, by assisting the council in constructing a bridge across the Gurara River in the community, which has been valued at N1.5bn.

    The NUJ chairman, Comrade Chuks Ehirim who was moved by the sight of children transported by canoe across the river from Agyana Pandagi road junction which stopped at the river bank, to the other side of the river to school, stated that the bridge, when constructed will go a long way to ease the stress of the indigent school children and also promote economic values.

    According to Ehirim who led journalists from NUJ to Abaji on a media assessment tour of projects executed by the area councils, said that the FCTA and federal government should take seriously the passionate appeals, to construct the bridge across the River, also because of its political and economics significance to the FCT.

    “If there is a bridge here, it would give impetus for economic activities, as well as enhance the economic well being of the local farmers here. If the government can take this project seriously, it will equally link this place up to Niger State. As well as remove some stress from the Gwagwalada/Abaji/Lokoja road, because people would prefer to travel through here to other parts of the country.

    “There is no way you could expect the area council to foot this bill of N1.4bn for the construction of this bridge. So, we are appealing to the federal government to compliment what the area council has done in constructing the 15km road, by urgently take over the construction of this bridge, because it will help a lot of people living in the rural area here and it would also provide safety for children schooling across, who cross the river with canoes to school,” he said.

    Earlier the council’s head of Works Department, Alhaji Abdulaziz Uthman said that they have made series of compassionate appeals to the FCT administration to help them with the construction of the bridge, because the council cannot fund the construction, saying that they have always been given promises that would lead to the realization of the bridge, but nothing has been done.

    “We are still appealing for their assistance. The road should have continued to the other side, but it had to end here because of the river, since there is no bridge. We have valued the bridge based on our estimate and in house level and we found that the bridge would cost nothing less than N1.5bn.

    “We were looking at a situation where we would have had a recreational centre here, because there was a proposal between the council to have a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement, for them to have a recreational facility here and an artificial beach would have been created here and we would have been raising a lot of revenue for the council,” he said.

  • Church assists community

    A non-governmental organisation under the auspices of Rural Rescue Outreach Foundation in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in collaboration with the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), has donated hospital facilities to FOLTZ Health Centre in Katari village, about 88kms to Kaduna.

    The National President of the foundation, Pastor Solomon Daudu, while presenting the facilities to the medical doctor in charge of the health centre Dr Uzoma Ugochukwu said that they found that the community has been neglected in terms of infrastructural development, that was why the foundation decided to assist the best way they could.

    According to Daudu, the foundation has the mandate of rescuing rural communities of Nigeria from the grip of darkness and poverty through preaching the gospel and provision of medical of some measures of poverty alleviation in any community visited, since most communities in the country are far from development.

    “We found that a lot of rural areas have been neglected by the government, because they are not able to reach everywhere and they concentrate in developing the cities that is why we decided to reach out to the rural areas to affect people’s lives, because there are places where people cannot buy malaria drugs of N50.

    “I want to advice Nigerians to be conscious of this health status, by going for counselling and check-up, because many people are dying of ailments that could not have died of, if they had gone for counselling and check-up, because, they go on self medications. So, they should seek counsel from medical experts, so that they would not die of preventable diseases,” he said.

    Dr Uzoma Ugochukwu, the doctor in charge of the health centre expressed gratitude to the foundation for remembering the community in their humanitarian services, saying that it is very difficult to find people moving around just to affect the lives of people in rural communities, thereby advised privileged Nigerians to emulate this kind of gesture of the foundation, so that Nigeria would be a better place to live in.

    Chief Zamani Dongoyaro, the district head of Katari village said that the community has been neglected by the government for so long, that anything found in the community were brought by missionaries, that they are totally left behind in everything that would naturally gives meaning to life.

    “We are lucky that we are very close to the FCT, life would have been difficult for us. We have only one small health centre that was neglected long ago, if not for this FOLTZ health centre, only God knows where we will be going to for health care. We are lucky that the missionary brought this hospital,” he said.