The Nation Newspaper

Category: Northern Report

  • Council chair revokes chiefs’ appointments

    The Chairman of Gwagwalada Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Alhaji Mustapha Danze has cancelled the appointment of newly upgraded and appointed district and village heads in council until further notice.

    Danze, who announced this during the first interactive session with districts and village heads of the council in Gwagwalada stated that the appointments were cancel because it was not approved by the FCT administration.

    “Some people have been served with letters of promotion to district or village head without records available in the council or directorate of chieftaincy affairs. We are disassociating ourselves from it. We make them to understand that from the handover note, the upgrading is not accepted,” he said.

    The council boss also said that the interacting session was meant to fine tune areas of mutual understanding between the council and the traditional rulers in the area.

    “There is need for understanding between the council and the traditiona lrulers. We felt it is important to have interaction with them. We want to tell them that we need their cooperation. We cannot do without them and they cannot do without us, so we can all work for the progress of the area council,” he said.

    In his remark at the meeting, the Aguma of Gwagwalada, Alhaji Muhammadu Magaji reminded the chairman of the ten month outstanding allowances of thecouncil traditional rulers.

    When FCT Watch contacted the former administration that the upgrade and appointment for district and village heads were not approved by the FCTadministration, the former council scribe, Alhaji Usman Yahaya said that the allegation was false, while stating that due process followed during the upgrade.

     

  • Culture lessons from Kwara pupils

    Culture lessons from Kwara pupils

    It was tagged Children’s Day, but it was converted to a veritable avenue to showcase the rich Nigerian cultural heritage by pupils of Roemichs International Schools in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital. In fact, it was a cultural festival of sorts.
    Pupils of the school in different Nigerian costumes and attires a day after the May 27th children day celebration displayed some cultural extravaganza. Sprucely attired in Yoruba, Hausa/Fulani, Igbo, Kanuri, Edo, Tiv, Idoma, Efik and Ibibio etal, the pupil danced to the admiration of ecstatic parents and guests alike.
    The school’s Principal, Mr. Kevin Massey said the exhibition was to celebrate the cultures that are found in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
    Mr. Massey said “so many cultures that bind the people together and we are trying to demonstrate that this can happen in a peaceful and harmonious environment.
    “Some of these children are not from the cultural background they have demonstrated. They have practiced and learnt and that we they are appreciating other people’s cultures from other parts of the country. That way everybody will learn to appreciate another person’s culture.”
    Some of the parents bared their minds on their wards’ exhibition at the event.
    A parent, Mrs. Kunle Idiagbon told The Nation his impression of the event.
    Mr. Idiagbon Said: “I am impressed with what they put together. We are Nigerians and we need to start promoting and embracing our culture. Each and every one of us has to make a conscious effort to embrace our culture. It is a fantastic idea. It is beautiful. All the children look beautiful in different costumes that the put on.
    “This school has set the pace here and everybody else has to follow suit. I mean it is only Nigerians that can promote what we have. So I will advise organizations, individuals and schools to support the promotion of our culture. This is just culture.
    To Mrs. Olayinka Nyang: “This cultural extravaganza shows that we as Nigerians are beginning to embrace our own culture. It is a good initiative. One thing that is commonplace now is that our children are growing too westernised. This is like bringing them back and showing that we are rich in tradition and culture.
    “It also shows that our heritage needs to be preserved. And they have done so fantastic and we are proud of them. I am proud of the school, the teachers and kids everyone has put in his best
    “I am extremely impressed. The teachers have put their best feet forward and they have done a lot in transforming these children, because at home we barely speak the traditional language. I, for one, my husband is from Akwa Ibom and I am Yoruba, So the lingual franca at home is English. But now coming here and my kids representing different culture; they are really happy and overwhelmed that this thing that can be interesting. I think they have really tried.
    “I blame the parents for the embracement of western ideas because, though I love culture but, I am married to an Akwa Ibomite it is very difficult to break that barrier of not speaking English in the house. If I speak Yoruba my husband will not understand, if he speaks Akwa Ibom I will not understand.”
    A guest, who simply gave his name as Gbenga Power said: “When I saw the invitation, I know the importance because culture in Nigeria cannot be overemphasized. Gbenga Power Foundation is for sports, youths and cultural initiatives. We are happy to be here today to know more about our culture. It is a pity that our culture is going gradually because of the borrowed culture from the Americas and Western countries. I think, it is high time we imbued our culture in our children so that we will not forget our culture.
    “It is important that we take advantage of this. Roemichs International School is placing a role model is this area now. I am so impressed by the effort of the school to bring our culture to our children.
    “Government needs to take advantage of this by investing more in our culture, tourism and our fore-fathers ways of doing things. We pray that in the next 50 years we will not be using money to buy our culture back. Because I heard about somebody in London that wrote on Yoruba culture and that book is being sold on a lot of Pounds and Nigerians are buying it when we have our fore-fathers whom we can learn directly from.”
    He suggested the inclusion of our cultural heritage in the Nigerian school’s curriculum “as this school is doing its own today, other educational institutions and groups should emulate this and make sure that our culture is not forgotten.”

    Guest speaker at the event and a lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Dr Joseph Fayeye suggested some of the ways to protect, preserve and promote the country’s rich cultural heritage.
    Some of these ways according to Dr Fayeye include organization of cultural festivals; encouraging youths and young adults to wear native attires and eat traditional cuisines; reduction in the promotion of imported cultures above the Nigerian cultural heritage in primary and post primary schools and encouraging all to speak the local languages.
    The university teacher also urged parents to give their children basic cultural orientation, saying that “government and other organisations should organise and promote cultural programmes and initiatives.

  • Breaking another jinx

    President Muhammadu Buhari last week Monday broke another jinx especially in the fourth Nigerian Republic starting from the period when democratic rule was restored in the country in 1999.

    As part of marking the first 12 months of his democratic administration, Buhari hosted State House correspondents to a Presidential Lunch at the seat of power.

    That was novel as the previous administrations never saw the need to bring the media as the fourth estate of the realm closer in such gathering.

    Last week Monday was also the second time President Buhari was formally meeting the State House correspondents in such a gathering within one year. No past President or Head of State of Nigeria did that.

    Those past leaders were always shielded from journalists and most often made to believe that it was a taboo to meet with the group.

    To them, journalists were just in the Villa to cover and report any open public function in the State House.

    But President Buhari as a true democrat saw journalists as partners in progress and felt the need to engage them beyond their official reportage of activities and events in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, despite the group being the watchdog of the society.

    He sat for about two hours through the Presidential Lunch to dine with the journalists after brief speeches by himself and the Chairman of the State House Press Corps, Kehinde Amodu.

    A member of the State House Press Corps, 84 years old photojournalist, Ladan Abubakar, popularly called Baba Ladan, was specially presented to the President during the lunch.

    Baba Ladan, who has put in about 42 years as photojournalist with the Triumph newspaper, has been combining his career with tailoring.

    His joy knew no bounds as he was called out to pose for snapshots with the President along with the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, and Kehinde Amodu.

    It was the first time Ladan was called out for such recognition since he started covering the seat of power from the regime of Late General Sani Abachi in 1994.

    A Director and Head of Department of Media and Publicity at the State House, Mr. Justin Abuah, who has served 8 Presidents and Heads of State since 1986 was also specially presented to the President by Mallam Garba Shehu, who served as the Master of Ceremony at the event.

    Abuah is often seen as a technocrat needed to make the engine room of the media office operate effectively from one government to the other.

    He has not only been a dependable hand in the concise and timely press statements the administrations have churned out, but he ensured members of the State House Press Corps, who needed to work on the statements, get them.

    To get the work done, Abuah has also severally followed some late night press statements with telephone calls to members of the Press Corps.

    The gathering was also the first time Abuah was being recognized by a sitting President at such a forum.

    At the end of the Presidential Lunch, President Buhari also stood to shake hand and posed for photographs with each of the 88 members of the Press Corps that attended the dinner. About 20 accredited State House correspondents did not attend the lunch.

    Many members of the State House correspondents present were elated by the President’s novel gesture and will not forget the experience in a hurry.

    Like stated above, the Presidential Lunch was the second jinx President Buhari was breaking as far as State House correspondents were concerned. The Lunch also broke a third record being the first time a sitting President will meet the Press Corps twice within a year.

    The first one he broke was his first meeting with State House correspondents on his first working day in the Presidential Villa, Abuja on 22nd of June last year after operating from the Defence House for about three weeks.

    Journalists were not just stunned by President Buhari’s sharp memory about each publisher or owner of any media organization introduced to him at that first meeting, but they could not help but compare him with the immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan, who did not find time to really fraternize with the group throughout his six years sojourn at the seat of power.

    Like Oliver Twist, majority of the journalists still want President Buhari to find time from his tight schedules to take the new gesture to the next level.

    They are looking forward to a regular interactive session like those held by the President of the United States of America, Barrack Obama with correspondents covering the White House.

    As such meetings, Obama not only fielded questions from the journalists but also expressed a good knowledge of the journalists by calling the journalists by their names and organizations.

    With time, we will definitely get there.

     

    Envy or Rivalry

     

    The Presidential Lunch for State House Press Corps last week Monday also had what can be referred to as its bad side.

    It brought to the fore a sort of rivalry or envy from some other workers in the Presidential Villa.

    To digress a bit, some of the other categories of workers at the seat of power apart from the media include protocol staff, security personnel, cooks and stewards, and drivers.

    Some of those workers who were envious of the journalists could not understand what made them special to enjoy such Presidential Lunch when they have not had such privilege.

    Apart from their sadness clearly showing on some of their faces, some of the workers made some unpleasant remarks in low tunes as they served journalists on their tables during the Presidential Lunch.

    Before last week Monday, they were used to having journalists stand or hang around to cover open public functions, but never at the centre of the President’s focus.

    The Presidential Lunch for State House Press Corps however ended on a good note that afternoon.

    But some of the envious workers became alarmed when they saw journalists again arriving to attend the Presidential Dinner for National Assembly members on that same Monday night.

    At the dinner, speeches were made by President Buhari and Senate President, Bukola Saraki, from which many newspapers published stories the following day. It is important for those workers to know that above every other consideration, journalists’ main role at such function is to get the news for the public.

    Many other happenings even under past administrations have shown the need for a kind of training or workshop to enlighten every category of staff on the roles being played by the various workers in the Villa.

    This, no doubt, will ensure harmony among workers in the Villa and also prevent any kind of rivalry or envy.

    Apart from journalists being the fourth estate of the realm, there is nothing wrong in dedicating and reserving some tables and seats, as the case may be, for journalists covering an open public functions, especially at the big old Banquet Hall of the State House.

    The era where non-journalists take the front seats while journalists stand during press conferences or other media events in any part of the country should be a thing of the past. Journalists should be accorded their deserved respect.

     

  • Community savours lawmaker’s impact

    Community savours lawmaker’s impact

    For many lawmakers, the provision of constituency projects has become one of the ways of adding value to their constituents’ lives.
    But the people of Billiri/Balanga Federal Constituency of Gombe State have not enjoyed such gesture since the return to democracy in 1999.
    Their current representative Ali Isa J. C. has now changed all that.
    To the admiration of all, he organised a programme at which loyalists of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) mingled without rancour;  something that had never happened in Gombe before.
    Little wonder that the Chairman of the occasion, Gabriel Suswan, immediate past governor of Benue State, described Ali as a blessing to his constituents and state, urging them to support him.
    ”Rarely do we have people who expend their time and resources to train people in various skills and then give them the working tools necessary to succeed in the pursuit of their dreams. But today, we are witnessing the benevolence and generosity of one of these rare politicians.
    ”This programme which is an eloquent testimony of his care and concern for humanity and I must confess that the people of Billiri/Balanga Federal Constituency and Gombe state in general are blessed to have this young man as her ambassador at the House off Representative,” Suswam said.
    The former governor of Benue State therefore commended the lawmaker effort in empowering his constituents, saying most people in elective positions tend to get carried away by the glamour of good roads, infrastructure and life in Abuja as well as their personal pockets and then forget about the plight of the people that elected them.
    He then urge Nigerians to always ensure that they elect into positions, people who would work through thick and thin in order to bring development to their constituencies, even as he commended the lawmaker for coming up with such intervention at a time of hardship and global recession.
    And when he stood up to speak, Ali Isa J. C. said he was spurred by the resolute commitment towards fulfilling his campaign promises, which the gesture was just part of. He recalled that he promised to empower women and youths to be self-employed through various skills hence had gathered the people to the promises as it is time for governance, not politicking.
    J. C. purposely chose May 4, 2016, being his birthday to celebrate with his constituent through the event announced that more than five hundred people had undergone training in such skills like tailoring, hairdressing and knitting under his skills acquisition programme for the past three months; and that he was empowering with tools and equipment at the occasion so that they can pursue their dreams and aspirations in life.
    Also to be supported through the programme were about four thousand farmers who collectively got more than five trailers of fertilisers, seedlings, herbicides chemicals and napsak sprayers.
    In addition, motorcycles were distributed to the present and immediate past PDP Ward Chairmen and their deputies in the twenty Wards that make up his constituency alongside other select constituents while the sitting party Chairmen of Billiri and Balanga local governments got a brand new Peugeot 406 car each.
    As a mark of respect for constituted religious authorities, Honourable Isa also gave one car each to the Chief Imam of Tangale, Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Balanga local government and Chairman, CAN, Billiri local government.
    The Honourable Member also happily to announced that trough his efforts at lobbying for Federal presence in projects and employments, some youths of Gombe state have been recruited in various areas.
    And in order to make for easy access and interaction between him and his constituents Ali J.C built and commissioned his constituency office in Billiri so that every member of the constituency could reach him through the staff that will be operating from the office.

    All the items he said were provided in line with proper consultation on the basic needs of the people, pledging to work judiciously towards providing more dividend of democracy to his people because his business in the system is to make a difference in the electorates’ lives. It was on that note that he urged Nigerians to: “Please let’s join hands to give our leaders a helping hand to make a difference in our lives.”
    Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Right Honourable Yakubu Dogara who graced the occasion as Guest Speaker after a lavish out-pour of encomium on Ali J.C and his large-hearted act took a swipe at insinuators and antagonists of constituency projects, arguing that it creates balance in the polity as well as cushions constituents hardship and give them sense of belonging.
    He proped his position with the argument that it was in realisation of the fact that the conditions are hard for people at the grassroots; and because service to humanity and electorates is central to representations, most legislators have taken it upon themselves to provide entrepreneur and entrepreneurship training and to deliver some of the thing the ones Honourable Ali Isa had given to his constituents.
    ”If not through the instrumentality of the zonal intervention or what is known as constituency projects, it would have been absolutely difficult if not impossible for the honourable member to provide the things he has provided and even train some of his constituents.
    “That is why I argue always with those who believe that there’s no need for zonal intervention or that it should have no place in our budget.
    ”We know that the only way by which we can maintain fairness in governance, fairness across the board, across the length and breadth of this country is by patronising Federal Constituencies.
    ”When you patronise Federal constituencies, you have touched every nook and corner of Nigeria. That is why we should continue as leaders to ensure that we have programmes in governance that touches directly on constituencies,” he posited.
    Other speakers, Senator Binta Garba and Honourable Chukwuma Ujam at length about the goodwill of their colleague which is the attraction of colleagues to him as well as the empowerment packages, while calling on beneficiaries to not to let the efforts go in vain by maximally utilizing what they got for the purpose they were provided.

  • FCTA prioritises infrastructure in budget

    Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Administration has proposed to spend N241, 467,231,031 this fiscal year for its capital and recurrent expenditures.

    FCT Minister Malam Muhammad Bello made this known during the defence of the 2016 FCT Statutory budget before the Senate Committee on FCT at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja.

    The minister said of the N241,467,231,031 proposed, N149,056,610,051 which represents 61.73 percent goes to capital expenditure.

    Bello said personnel cost is N52, 371,352,360 which also represents 21.69 percent of the total expenditure.

    According to him, the overhead is the least with N40, 039,268,620 out of the N241, 467,231,031 which is 16.58 percent.

    While saying that this year’s budget is a departure from the previous ones because of the importance his administration attaches to infrastructural development of the entire Federal Capital Territory, the minister disclosed that N2,400,000,000 has been set aside for debt servicing.

    In a statement issued by the Deputy Director/Chief Press Secretary, Muhammad Sule, the minister assured that attention would mostly be given to on-going projects this fiscal year to fast track solid development of the Federal Capital Territory.

    Bello further assured that the cleanliness of Abuja remains a top priority of his administration and that was why there was a complete change of leadership at the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) which is now being assisted with an enforcement team of 200 security personnel drawn from the Nigeria Police Force and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps led by a retired Squadron Leader.

    The minister emphasised that significant activities would be noticed in that area because cleanliness has no alternative.

    In his opening remarks, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on FCT, Senator Dino Malaye promised that his Committee will work assiduously to pass the Appropriation Bill into law.

    The FCT Permanent Secretary, Dr. Babatope Ajakaiye, Acting Secretaries of Mandate Secretariats, Directors as well as other top officials of the FCT Administration accompanied the FCT Minister to the Budget Defence.

     

  • NGO canvasses for vocational education at grassroot

    NGO canvasses for vocational education at grassroot

    A Kogi State-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), Dove Love Foundation, has called on the Federal Government to give more attention to vocational education and skill acquisition in school curriculum in the rural areas.

    Its president, Mrs Agnes Achimugu, made the call during the graduation of vocational trainees sponsored by the foundation, at Oguma, headquarters of Bassa local government.

    She said adequate attention was not being paid to rural dwellers in schools’ curricular.

    Improvement in human development was imperative for economic, she said, development stressing that vocational training remains integral to national development.

    Her words: “The progress of this country lies in the productivity of its citizens and I venture to stress that vocational education holds the key. Unfortunately, previous governments at all levels did not accord this model a deserving attention.

    “Vocational education, especially for rural women, is highly recommended because on successful completion of such a programme, the  graduand becomes not only employable, but she also becomes  an employer. Vocational education makes beneficiaries, especially the women, to develop self-confidence and become self-reliant”.

    The Aguma of Bassa Kingdom, Chief Williams Keke Jimba, praised the President and Founder of the Dove Love Foundation, Mrs Agness Achimugu for touching the lives of the vunerables in his community, adding that the NGO was doing a wonderful job in the society

    He noted that the group was there on 31 October, 2014 “when she paid school fees for 30 secondary school pupils and “pledged to train at least 10 vulnerable people in our area”.

    He called on the federal and state governments to partner with the NGOs in the fignt againtws poverty which he noted was still ravaging the rural communities with women and the physically challenged persons at receiving end.

    He urged the parents to always strive to ensure that their wards acquire better education, particularly girl-child education, for the development of their communities and the state in general

    Former member of the Kogi State House of Assembly and former chairman of Bassa Local Government, Alhaji Suleiman Adakeke also advocated for girl-child education, even as he lauded the efforts of the NGO which single handedly trained the young girls, including two physical challenged ones.

    He stressed that the the Dove Love Foundation has challenged the men folk to devise means of tackling poverty by empowering all the vulnerable ones to alleviate poverty in society.

    He called on political office holders in Bassa and others in Kogi State to help to reduce the high prevalent of poverty in the areas.

    He advised the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the the working tools provided for them to uplift their standard of living, and congratulated them for the successful completion of the skill acquisition and training programme.

    Some of the beneficiaries, including Paulina Gwatana, Yin Dangagra, Ruth Job, Grace Mohammed, Mulikatu Gwatana, Muritala Sherifat, Shaibu Rahmat, Kashe Jimba, Gbaje Patience and Nefisat Suleiman, took turns to express appreciation for the opportunity, saying they will make good use of it.

    The foundation, according to the promoters, has trained over 200 rural women in various skill acquisition programmes, providing them with working equipments for self-reliance.

    Speaking on behalf of the parents and guardians, Mr. Rufai Mustapha hailed the foundation for impacting positively on the people of the area, particularly those in the lower economic strata.

  • Breaking another jinx

    President Muhammadu Buhari last week Monday broke another jinx especially in the fourth Nigerian Republic starting from the period when democratic rule was restored in the country in 1999.

    As part of marking the first 12 months of his democratic administration, Buhari hosted State House correspondents to a Presidential Lunch at the seat of power.

    That was novel as the previous administrations never saw the need to bring the media as the fourth estate of the realm closer in such gathering.

    Last week Monday was also the second time President Buhari was formally meeting the State House correspondents in such a gathering within one year. No past President or Head of State of Nigeria did that.

    Those past leaders were always shielded from journalists and most often made to believe that it was a taboo to meet with the group.

    To them, journalists were just in the Villa to cover and report any open public function in the State House.

    But President Buhari as a true democrat saw journalists as partners in progress and felt the need to engage them beyond their official reportage of activities and events in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, despite the group being the watchdog of the society.

    He sat for about two hours through the Presidential Lunch to dine with the journalists after brief speeches by himself and the Chairman of the State House Press Corps, Kehinde Amodu.

    A member of the State House Press Corps, 84 years old photojournalist, Ladan Abubakar, popularly called Baba Ladan, was specially presented to the President during the lunch.

    Baba Ladan, who has put in about 42 years as photojournalist with the Triumph newspaper, has been combining his career with tailoring.

    His joy knew no bounds as he was called out to pose for snapshots with the President along with the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, and Kehinde Amodu.

    It was the first time Ladan was called out for such recognition since he started covering the seat of power from the regime of Late General Sani Abachi in 1994.

    A Director and Head of Department of Media and Publicity at the State House, Mr. Justin Abuah, who has served 8 Presidents and Heads of State since 1986 was also specially presented to the President by Mallam Garba Shehu, who served as the Master of Ceremony at the event.

    Abuah is often seen as a technocrat needed to make the engine room of the media office operate effectively from one government to the other.

    He has not only been a dependable hand in the concise and timely press statements the administrations have churned out, but he ensured members of the State House Press Corps, who needed to work on the statements, get them.

    To get the work done, Abuah has also severally followed some late night press statements with telephone calls to members of the Press Corps.

    The gathering was also the first time Abuah was being recognized by a sitting President at such a forum.

    At the end of the Presidential Lunch, President Buhari also stood to shake hand and posed for photographs with each of the 88 members of the Press Corps that attended the dinner. About 20 accredited State House correspondents did not attend the lunch.

    Many members of the State House correspondents present were elated by the President’s novel gesture and will not forget the experience in a hurry.

    Like stated above, the Presidential Lunch was the second jinx President Buhari was breaking as far as State House correspondents were concerned. The Lunch also broke a third record being the first time a sitting President will meet the Press Corps twice within a year.

    The first one he broke was his first meeting with State House correspondents on his first working day in the Presidential Villa, Abuja on 22nd of June last year after operating from the Defence House for about three weeks.

    Journalists were not just stunned by President Buhari’s sharp memory about each publisher or owner of any media organization introduced to him at that first meeting, but they could not help but compare him with the immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan, who did not find time to really fraternize with the group throughout his six years sojourn at the seat of power.

    Like Oliver Twist, majority of the journalists still want President Buhari to find time from his tight schedules to take the new gesture to the next level.

    They are looking forward to a regular interactive session like those held by the President of the United States of America, Barrack Obama with correspondents covering the White House.

    As such meetings, Obama not only fielded questions from the journalists but also expressed a good knowledge of the journalists by calling the journalists by their names and organizations.

    With time, we will definitely get there.

     

    Envy or Rivalry

    The Presidential Lunch for State House Press Corps last week Monday also had what can be referred to as its bad side.

    It brought to the fore a sort of rivalry or envy from some other workers in the Presidential Villa.

    To digress a bit, some of the other categories of workers at the seat of power apart from the media include protocol staff, security personnel, cooks and stewards, and drivers.

    Some of those workers who were envious of the journalists could not understand what made them special to enjoy such Presidential Lunch when they have not had such privilege.

    Apart from their sadness clearly showing on some of their faces, some of the workers made some unpleasant remarks in low tunes as they served journalists on their tables during the Presidential Lunch.

    Before last week Monday, they were used to having journalists stand or hang around to cover open public functions, but never at the centre of the President’s focus.

    The Presidential Lunch for State House Press Corps however ended on a good note that afternoon.

    But some of the envious workers became alarmed when they saw journalists again arriving to attend the Presidential Dinner for National Assembly members on that same Monday night.

    At the dinner, speeches were made by President Buhari and Senate President, Bukola Saraki, from which many newspapers published stories the following day. It is important for those workers to know that above every other consideration, journalists’ main role at such function is to get the news for the public.

    Many other happenings even under past administrations have shown the need for a kind of training or workshop to enlighten every category of staff on the roles being played by the various workers in the Villa.

    This, no doubt, will ensure harmony among workers in the Villa and also prevent any kind of rivalry or envy.

    Apart from journalists being the fourth estate of the realm, there is nothing wrong in dedicating and reserving some tables and seats, as the case may be, for journalists covering an open public functions, especially at the big old Banquet Hall of the State House.

    The era where non-journalists take the front seats while journalists stand during press conferences or other media events in any part of the country should be a thing of the past. Journalists should be accorded their deserved respect.

     

  • NGO spends over N50m on Abuja indigent patients

    Surgical Aid Foundation, a non-governmental orga-nisation (NGO), has spent over N50 million in the last four years to assist less privileged patients undergo Minimal Access Surgery (MAS) in Abuja.

    MAS uses tiny instruments, sometimes the one that is like a puncture needle to perform surgical operations with less bleeding and pain on patients. The patients go back home the same day after the surgery.

    The NGO had earlier dedicated one week to perform surgical operations on patients with various kinds of ailments including kidney stone.

    Speaking at a lecture on MAS organised by Surgical Aid Foundation in partnership with Kelena Hospital, an Abuja-based urologists, Undieh Kelena, disclosed that MAS is the current trend of performing surgical operations globally.

    The Foundation, according to him, is also partnering with the hospital to train young doctors on how to perform the minimal access surgery.

    “Basically, the purpose of the programme is to bring expensive, high tech surgical procedure to the general population who cannot afford this surgery. The NGO underwrites and pay some of the bills for them and those who have been waiting for a long time and could not have the money are able to benefit from the high-tech surgeries.

    “We also use the opportunity to show younger doctors who don’t have the experience in this area what the surgeries are all about and they can join us in the hospital to learn from what we are doing.

    “We are also trying to explain to Nigerians that some of the things they travel abroad to do may not be necessary because they are now available in the country,” he said.

    He also said the gesture will help curb medical tourism, which has been a huge source of capital flight.  ”The rich always travel to other countries of  the world to get what they want but there are some other people who actually need these surgeries and there is no any other method of treating them, but unfortunately, they cannot afford these surgeries, so we liaise with the Surgical Aid Foundation who can assist these patients to bring the surgeries down home to them and make them more affordable,” he said.

    Also speaking, a gynecologist at the Wuse General Hospital, Dr. Seyi Ashaolu, disclosed that the procedure is for everybody, but however, warned that patients must be carefully selected so as  to optimised the result one wants to get.

    He, however, warned women with pregnancy that is more than 14-16 weeks to tread with caution when undergoing minimal access surgery.

    “Pregnancy is not an absolute contra indication, but you must be careful. Any pregnancy that is more than 14 to 16 weeks are advised not to go in and why would not want to do minimal access surgery during pregnancy?

    “Sometimes some women have what is called ovarian cysts, that is partly what we can go ahead to do laparoscopy, however, in late pregnancy, we don’t advice laparoscopy.”

     

  • Curtailing the Yan Kalare threat in Gombe

    Curtailing the Yan Kalare threat in Gombe

    Before Boko Haram, bared its jangs in the Northeast, the Yan Kalare was a thorn in the flesh of people in Gombe State. But on coming to office in 2011, Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo outlawed the group. He turned the band of youths into security and traffic marshals among others. But they have abandoned the job to return to the streets as urchins – a development the government is not ready to accept. VINCENT OHONBAMU reports

    They were before Boko Haram. The Yan Kalare held Gombe State by its jugular as it transformed from political thuggery into monster unleashing on the citizenry.

    They held sway until the coming of Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, who after his inauguration in 2011 outlawed them. He created the Talba Youth Orientation and Rehabilitation Programme which captured 4,000 youths in two batches, trained them into Environmental, Security, Traffic and Ward Marshals. They were engaged by Gombe State Agency for Social Development and other Related Matters under the Ministry of Youth Empowerment and Poverty Alleviation.

    The aim is to change the youths’ psyche and get them to channel their energies into the development of the state. They were paid stipends. But after about four years on, some of the youths are now abandoning their jobs, preferring to return to their old habit of hanging around offices to harass top officials or personalities at public functions for money

    Uncomfortable with the recent developments, the Commissioner for Youth Empowerment and Poverty Alleviation, Malam Farouk Yarma, expressed concern over the underutilisation of the Marshals and the youths’ penchant of going about to harass people for money.

    The commissioner last vowed to ensure that the youths become more productive and justify government’s investment on them.

    He said the ministry would collaborate with “organisations, donor agencies, other state governments, individuals, corporate bodies, etc in making our youths a productive generation because Governor Dankwambo has initiated a lot of youth oriented programmes and the Ministry has to complement his efforts in making the proactive programmes succeed as far as the youths are concerned.”

    Yarma said: “We (the Ministry) will do our best to see that they are rehabilitated again through another round of orientation because we’ll change their thinking; and of course, we’ll assign responsibility to each of them so that they will always know where to go and report for duty daily.

    ”This is one of our paramount responsibilities and I think we are going to achieve that because I will do my best to see that we make this Ministry to the next level in line with activities and expectations of the government of Dankwambo.”

    Farouk Yarma who doubles as the Commissioner overseeing the state Ministry of Cooperative where he equally took over the reigns of leadership the same day spoke on other issues which essentially bother on both ministries with the determination to place high premium on revenue generation to complement the dwindling allocation from the Federation Accounts taking the front burner.

    ”We are all aware of the financial situation, the financial difficulty, the economic meltdown of the country. We must diversify; we must find a means of supporting the government. I’m talking about the revenue generation,” he said; adding that employees in both Ministries are going to do everything in their power to evolve new ideas and new development on how government will be generating funds from them.

    But he acknowledged it would be an impossible task going it all alone hence he promised to work closely as a team with the staff of both Ministries for the present administration, informing them that their works should speak for them because he would he judge people based on performance.

    The Commissioner nevertheless cautioned that it would no longer be business as usual for the staffers; therefore, they should amend their ways and put the people of Gombe first by being constantly conscious of how to give back to them through conscientious discharge of the responsibilities entrusted to them because what accrues the state from the Federation Account presently goes entirely into the payment of civil servants salaries which according to him must be justified.

    ”Therefore, I urge you all to brace up for the challenges of government’s efforts to diversify sources of income by being more proactive in doing things; come up with ideas on how to make the Ministry more productive because it is incumbent on us everyone to contribute his quarter in the development of the state,” said Yarma.

    He also emphasised the need for workers to be punctual, urging everyone not to cover for anyone by to reporting directly or indirectly any absentee or those discovered to be on the payroll but are never always there for work, stressing: “Government is now determined more than ever to prune the system and weed out those that not part of us indeed because if we don’t weed them out, government cannot plan effectively for workers. So I urge you to report according to what you know, please.”

    That took him to the issue of staff audit which he already kick-started at the Ministry of Cooperatives with the aim of fishing out the ghost and absentee workers on government payroll, pending the biometric data capture of staffers.

     

  • Community hails Rotary for donating 500-capacity hall

    Community hails Rotary for donating 500-capacity hall

    It was all encomiums penultimate week at Isolo-Opin, Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State at the launch of a 500 capacity examination/assembly hall donated to its Senior Secondary School.

    Rotary Club GRA Ilorin donated the hall which was built for N3.5 million.

    Members of the community trooped out to witness the ceremony.

    At the event, the club’s outgoing president and former military administrator of Bauchi and Osun states, Col Theophilus Bamigboye (rtd), painted a sorry picture of the building before the club’s intervention.

    Bamigboye said the club had adopted the community as a global village, adding: “the next project is your health centre. We will rehabilitate it to a world standard for other communities and villages to envy and emulate you.”

    The former military administrator added: “I recall that the first time we came here everywhere was dusty. The ceilings of the hall blown off, walls not plastered and no door and window. Today we are celebrating Rotary and humanity. I therefore urge the students to take good care of the facilities.”

    Asolo of Isolo-Opin Oba Raphael Are went philosophical, saying: “Only God knows why Rotary adopts our community as a global village. But for the club many things would have happened negatively. Today we are celebrating something brought by the Rotary Club GRA Ilorin. Today we are celebrating something brought by the club. This school was then just a block of three classrooms. I m saying this because there is joy in collective efforts

    Now I am proud of inviting people to come to my community’s school. Interestingly, the community has no financial input in all the projects so far executed in the school.”

    Also speaking, Vice President of Isolo-Opin Development Association (IDA), Michael Adewunmi appreciated the humanitarian of Rotary, adding that the club’s intervention, the community secondary school’s laboratory was a right off lacking in facilities and reagents.

    Mr. Adewunmi said that the laboratory had been concluded and furnished with up-to-date equipment.

    Earlier, the school’s principal Ayo abegunde said the club’s intervention in the school was divine and timely.

    Said he: “Were it for the club’s intervention “this place would have been an eyesore; hitherto the laboratory was no laboratory at all. For all this we are grateful and indebted to the club. We pray and hope the plan by the club to build administrative block for the school will be realized very soon.”

    Students of the school entertained the audience with cultural dance supported by the traditional talking drums.