In his determination to ensure that the youths benefit in the agenda of the current administration, state Kebbi State governor, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, has approved the sum of ($349.150) equivalent to a total sum of 151million naira as fees for the 116 students studying in India.

The money covers tuition fees, accommodations, health insurance and pocket money for the 2022/2023 session.

This is contained in a statement signed by the Permanent Secretary, Halima A.B Dikko and made available to newsmen in Birnin Kebbi on Friday.

The statement said that the remaining students for MBBS training whose admission was being processed in Egypt and Russian universities are under the governor’s consideration as soon as the scholarship board concludes formalities with the institutions.

”The Ministry wishes to use this opportunity to inform all that the ongoing ASUU strike is adequately handled by the government.

”As of today, negotiations have reached an advanced and reconcilable stage for all academic activities, to resume in Kebbi State University of Science and Technology, Aliero, for 2023 academic session.

”The Ministry for Higher Education wishes to appreciate the laudable gesture of the governor for paving way forward for the youths to prosper intellectually and for his unflinching commitment to youth development in Kebbi State,” it added.

Speaker, Nasarawa State House of Assembly, Alhaji Ibrahim Balarabe Abdullahi, has donated N4million to flood victims in his constituency, Umaisha/Ugya in Toto LGA of the State.

This, the speaker said was to cushion the effects of the flooding on his people.

The speaker made the donation at the palace of HRH, Alhaji Usman Abdullahi, the Ohimege Opanda yesterday in Umaisha.

Balarabe Abdullahi (APC-Umaisha/Ugya) said the gesture was also to improve the standard of living of the flood victims and give them a sense of belonging.

“Last two weeks, the State House of Assembly came up with a resolution under matters of public importance, calling on the state government to, as a matter of urgency, come to the aid and rescue of our people that were ravaged by flood.

“The unfortunate incident (flood) did not only happen in Toto Local Government but it also happened in Nassarawa, Doma as well as Awe local government areas of the state and in some states of the federation.

“So as a follow up, I am here today to sympathise with my people who were ravaged by this unfortunate incident. I have donated N4million to them to buy food stuff in order to cushion the effect of the flooding on them,” he said.

Speaking, HRH Alhaji Usman Abdullahi, the Ohimege Opanda Umaisha, appreciated the Speaker over his good representation at the state legislature and for always coming to the aid of his people.

The Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI) has said that there are no buyers yet for the 1, 432 houses built for low-income earners in five states.

The homes were built by the management of Family Homes Funds Limited (FHFL) initiated by the Federal Government in 2016.

The government released N65 billion to FHFL between 2018 and 2020 to bridge the housing deficits in the country.

The houses are in Delta, Kano, Ogun, Kaduna, and Nasarawa states.

The Executive Director, PLSI, Olusegun Elemo said this during a conference in Abuja while presenting findings from the analysis of the performance audit report on the management of resources for the provision of affordable/social homes for low-income earners in Nigeria by FHFL (2018 to 2020).

The report further stated that macroeconomic conditions in Nigeria are the greatest impediments to affordable housing.

A seed capital of N500 billion was promised by the Federal Government for the provision of affordable/social homes for low-income earners, the government released N65 billion to FHFL between 2018 and 2020.

According to Elemo, despite the release of funds to FHFL to facilitate the development of affordable/social homes, there are still visible challenges impeding the acquisition of completed homes by low-income earners in Nigeria.

He said: “We have analysed the performance audit report on the management of resources for the provision of affordable/social homes for low-income earners in Nigeria conducted by the Auditor-General of the Federation and we have highlighted key challenges impeding acquisition of 1,432 homes built in five states.

“These challenges include the absence of need assessment by the Family Homes Funds Limited, constraint with accessing completed homes due to lack of infrastructure and insufficient awareness creation for homes built among others.

“PLSI will support the Family Homes Funds Limited in mobilizing buyers/off-takers within the target group of low-income earners to boost acquisition of homes built in Delta, Kano, Ogun, Kaduna, and Nasarawa states.”

He called on the management of FHFL to improve on its efficiency and effectiveness in providing affordable/social homes to Nigerians.

Elemo urged the FHFL to implement the recommendations offered by the Auditor-General for the Federation to address highlighted challenges hindering the acquisition of homes built by low-income earners in Nigeria.

The Abuja Bureau Chief of EnviroNews, Etta Michael, stressed the importance of ensuring that proper need assessment was carried out before embarking on such a social intervention program to align policy objectives with citizens’ needs.

A civil society, Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA) has urged politicians to show a clear blueprint on how to tackle the country’s problems in the 2023 general election.

The civil society urged politicians, especially presidential candidates, to avoid campaigning with empty promises.

Executive Director of the group, Faith Nwadishi said this on Thursday in Abuja against the backdrop of the campaign season approved by the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC for the 2023 general election.

Nwadishi said it was time candidates started signing undertakings on what they intended to deliver to the electorate when they are elected into office.

She said the era when politicians made mouth watering promises and failed to deliver after each electoral cycle should prompt more reforms in the electoral processes, such that citizens can also sue them in court as a means of benchmarking them against their promises.

While commenting on the 2023 electioneering campaigns and expectations from Nigerians, the CTA Boss said, rather than politicians promising what they can’t deliver, the electorate and direct beneficiaries of government policies should be the ones setting agenda for the political class, so as to hold them accountable if they failed to fulfil those promises.

She said on issues of insecurity for instance, the political parties and their candidates should tell Nigerians in realistic terms how they intend to end insurgency, banditry, kidnapping and other criminalities.

“Citizens are eager to know the solutions that political parties are proffering to the lingering security challenges,” she said.

On the energy crisis, CTA said political parties should consider and in fact include discussions on fuel subsidy and domestic consumption of fuel in their campaigns.

According to her, political parties and their candidates should tell Nigerians how they will cushion the effect of high energy cost, whether fuel subsidy will stay or go and how they will provide renewable energy options since that is where the world is going now.

Reacting to the protracted strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) she said political parties and their candidates should make it a point to tell Nigerians how they will mitigate the protracted strikes in the education system and other rots bedevilling the Nigerian education sector from the Primary, post primary and tertiary levels.

She alleged that foreign educational institutions are cashing out on the rot of the educational system, encouraging Nigerian youths to seek alternative education in foreign lands.

On fiscal responsibility and taming corruption, she said political parties and candidates need to tell Nigerians in their campaigns how they will strengthen the fiscal policies to encourage growth and productivity, amidst dwindling resources arising from oil theft, non-remittances of revenue to the government-by-government agencies.

According to her, the dwindling fiscal outlook has put the country in a financial quandary.

She said: “The economic future of Nigeria is linked to fiscal responsibility. The fiscal choices we make today have implications for the future.

“CTA is expecting that campaigns and manifestos would be tailored but not limited to the underlisted agenda. Issue-based campaigns are essential for safe electioneering. In turn, this will create the atmosphere for the successful deployment and conduct of all electoral activities.

“As we move into the campaign period, we expect that the political atmosphere will be charged. It is imperative therefore, that political parties make their campaigns issue based and convince Nigerians to vote for their candidates based on sound proposals of alternative solutions to the issues that are of utmost concern to Nigerians.

“Campaigns should be devoid of hate speech; abusive, intemperate, or slanderous language; insinuations or innuendoes likely to provoke violent reaction; physical attack on supporters of one party by another or destruction of campaign materials.

“In addition, security authorities should guarantee adequate protection for the populace during this time and election period. All other stakeholders should be responsible for ensuring that elections are credible, free, and fair.”

The Registrar/Chief Executive Officer of Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Prof. Olusegun Ajiboye has said over 1,500 schools have been forced to close in the Northeast due to terrorism and insurgency.

He also said over 910 schools have either been destroyed with 2, 295 teachers so far killed in the Northeast between 2009 and 2022.

Ajiboye made this known while speaking at the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) National Delegates Conference where he said “the world is grappling with terrorism which has dealt a serious blow on every facet of the economy, including education.”

Despite the insecurity challenges, Prof. Ajiboye promised to continue championing the professionalism and welfare of Nigerian teachers.

He urged the Federal Government to review its security architecture to address the “deteriorating security situation because of its effect on education.”

He said: “The government should implement fully the safe schools’ declaration guidelines endorsed by Nigeria in 2015 and ratified by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.”

Professor Ajiboye, who lamented that over 600,000 have lost access to education, stated that the “attacks on education create a ripple effect, setting in motion a range of negative impacts such as loss of education, early marriage, early pregnancy, and stigma associated with sexual violence and children born from rape; all of which can affect female students’ future.”

While he noted that insurgency has reduced foreign investments and put the local economy under pressure, the Registrar hinted that 1.2 million people require emergency education in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.

“The presence of armed forces in and near schools can make it a target of retaliatory attacks, thereby increasing the risk to children and teachers and the likelihood that education will be disrupted,” he said.

A deputy director of the Corporate Affairs Commission, Moses Adagusu, has dragged the Registrar General, Garba Abubakar to court for stopping his salary and allowances for six to seven months.

The National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Abuja, ruled in favour of Adagusu, charging the CAC to pay the deputy director all his entitlement which is about N14million.

The counsel to Adagusu, Barrister Tailumun Azuwan, while speaking with the press after the judgement, said “God has today vindicated the claimant. We are very grateful for what the court has done. We thank the almighty God for keeping us alive to see victory today.”

He condemned the RG’s action for being high-handed and for being too harsh with the authority entrusted to him.

“The benefits accruing to the claimant in the judgment is much. First we settled for declaratory release which the court granted, setting aside the illegal suspension of the claimant for being crass violation of his right. Aside that, the court also directed that all his benefits and entitlements should be paid to him while he was on suspension, which is about N14million.

“The two million naira mentioned by the Judge is for filing of action in the court. The claimant is a successful person as far as litigation of this matter is concern and the court deemed it fit that he should be paid for filing this matter in court by the Registrar General.

Counsel to the Registrar General, Francis Ogbu, refused to accept the judgement of the industrial court, stating that they would meet at the Appeal Court.

Yobe State does not have a single oncologist for cancer treatment.

This was the declaration of the president of the Nigerian Cancer Society, Dr. Adamu Umar, this weekend at the Okapi Children Cancer Foundation walk for children fighting cancer in Abuja.

Umar therefore warned that Nigeria is presently running short of clinical oncologists.

He said Nigeria with over 250 million people has less than 100 clinical oncologists who are only situated in major urban areas.

His words, “When you don’t have the appropriate equipment and clinicians, the cases of wrong diagnosis and misdiagnosis become a problem, even in terms of treatment. Now, Nigeria as a country of over 250 million people has less than 100 clinical oncologists catering for the huge population. These are the people that diagnose and treat cancer. Even the 100 are in urban areas, Yobe State as a whole does not have a single clinical oncologist, so how can cancer be appropriately diagnosed in the country.

“This is the problem we have in Nigeria and why we would continue to call on the government to increase funding for health.”

Chief volunteer, Okapi Children Cancer Foundation, Kemi Adekanye, said the major issue with cancer in Nigeria is the lack of awareness.

She said, “One of the major issues with cancer is the lack of awareness. Most people don’t know children can have cancer, and when they see the signs and symptoms, they have this God forbid attitude and run from hospitals without finishing their treatment.”

Consultant paediatrician with the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital in charge of children with cancer and other disabilities, Dr. Uduak Offiong said cancer is gradually becoming a public health problem in the country.

Offiong noted that the most common cancer in children used to be Burkitt lymphoma, adding that the common one now is nephroblastoma (kidney cancer), cancer of the eye and Leukemia.

The event was aimed at raising awareness and funds for children living with cancer.

The President of Onyebuchi Chris Ifediora (OCI) Foundation, Chris Ifediora has been honoured with the Mayor of World Peace (MP-UN)” Award at the “2022 World Peace Day Celebration” by the United Nations Peace and Positive Awareness Living Centre (UN-PEPOLAC).

He was among 10 distinguished Nigerians honoured with the prestigious award.

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According to the Trustees and Special Projects Committee of UN-PEPOLAC, this investiture, and the invitation as a “Special Guest to the Ceremony,” was due to Dr Ifediora’s “pedigree, contributions to world peace, and human capital development in Nigeria through health initiatives and empowerment projects.”

With the theme “End Racism, Build Peace,” the “2022 World Peace Day Celebration” was held on Friday, September 23 2022, at the Prof. Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre, Awka, Anambra State.

The chief guest of honour was Anambra State Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo.

The OCI Foundation President dedicated the award to the “hundreds of the OCI Foundation members and volunteers across the country and the globe.”