The Public Administration and Social Development Consult, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has called for stakeholders’ collective efforts in enhancing social justice.

The organisation noted that the slow justice system had impeded social justice delivery.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Consult Mrs Margaret Ibeku made the call at a briefing in Abuja ahead of the social justice conference and awards scheduled for October 27 this year.

Ibeku, who is the Chairperson of the National Steering Committee of the Social Justice Conference and Awards, identified lack of awareness and slow dispensation of justice as some of the major factors affecting Nigeria’s social justice system.

She said: “One of the first challenges of social justice in Nigeria is awareness.

“Most Nigerians don’t even know some of the organisations to go to for redress if there is any infringement on their rights or they are lagging in the opportunities that ought to be available to them.”

Ibeku stated that the organisation was partnering with the Public Complaints Commission (PCC) to organise the maiden Social Justice Conference and Award.

She also said the maiden event was aimed at promoting awareness of citizens’ rights, identifying the vacuum and bridging the gap to promote the Nigerian social justice system, adding that the conference also covered issues of oil and gas, internally displaced persons, housing sector and other sectors of the economy.

“This conference will bring together the academia, technocrats, civil society, public servants, interest groups, students, cultural interest and religious groups, researchers and private organisations to interact and x-ray topical issues that border on social justice and good governance,” she said.

She said while the former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu would present a keynote address at the conference, other stakeholders, including politicians, would be invited for discussion on the 2023 general elections.

She said the body would thereafter present its White Paper on recommendations to the government and other stakeholders to promote social justice in Nigeria.

Ibeku said highlights of the occasion would include the presentation of awards to ministries, departments and agencies of government, private organisations and individuals who had put in so much into delivering social justice in Nigeria.

Ibeku urged Nigerians to visit its website www.socialjusticeaward.com to nominate recipients for various categories of awards.

Determined to recover all ground rent debts owed by property owners in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has commenced prosecution of defaulting titleholders who are yet to pay their debt.

Already, the government has filed court cases against some of the property owners over their failure to pay the prescribed land charges.

The government is seeking an order to force debtors to clear their debts or forfeit the affected property, since they are recalcitrant in paying the debt, despite several appeals.

The FCT Administration is desirous of recovering the over N29 billion ground rents owed it by property owners.

According to a statement yesterday by the Director of Information and Communication, Muhammad Sule, the government insisted that since all entreaties have failed, it has no other option than to commence the prosecution of the first batch of the defaulting property owners.

The FCT Permanent Secretary, Mr Adesola Olusade recently inaugurated a debt-recovery committee with the mandate to recover the outstanding debts owed to the FCT Administration.

The Coordinating Committee on the Recovery of Outstanding Ground Rent and Other Related Charges in the FCT is headed by the FCT General Counsel/Secretary Legal Secretariat, Mohammed Babangida Umar.

Also, the Department of Development Control of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has removed some make-shift structures on major roads and inside cashew plantations within Apo Resettlement Area in Abuja.

The FCTA city management officials, accompanied by security personnel at the weekend, stormed the place with its bulldozer and dislodged hundreds of artisans, food vendors and petty traders.

The Director of the Department of Development Control, Murktar Usman Galadima said the weekly exercise followed a due process for demolition activity.

To ensure that the shanties don’t return, the Director said: “We will ensure that any person trying to go contrary to our regulations will be prosecuted.

Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani-Bello, has inaugurated the state chapter of the National Road Safety Strategy Advisory Council (NARSAC), in a bid to achieve road safety targets.

The Council will be responsible for the coordination among the state and local government areas in achieving road safety targets, and review reports on monitoring and evaluation for effective coordination of road safety programmes.

During the inauguration, Sani-Bello urged members of the 12-man Council to make the necessary impact on society and work towards reducing the rate of road crashes and injuries across the state.

The Niger State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Kumar Tsukwan had earlier expressed concern over the rate of deaths recorded annually in the country due to road accidents. He said the National Road Safety Strategy Advisory Council will ensure that road crashes are reduced to the barest.

He said the Council was established in 2018 by the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, adding that it is part of the Federal Government’s strategies that were aimed at improving road safety.

He said, with the council in place, Niger State is on the road to meeting the 2030 target of reduced deaths by road crashes.

Also, Governor Sani-Bello, the member representing Bida/Gbako/Katcha Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, Saidu Musa Abdul and the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) have hailed the Etsu Nupe and Chairman of Niger State Council of Traditional Rulers, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar as he clocked 70 and marked his 19th coronation anniversary.

In a congratulatory message, Sani-Bello described the Etsu Nupe as a courageous and peaceful leader whose immense contributions to unity, peaceful co-existence and development of the society are reckoned within the state, Nigeria and beyond.

He said the 19 years of the reign of the traditional ruler have built bridges and promoted the cultural values of the Nupes across the country, adding that the royal father has helped in promoting good governance across the state.

Real estate firm and construction company, Zoe New Dawn Nigeria Limited, is set to generate electricity, using gas and hydro turbine power plants, for its estate and housing units under construction in the FCT .

A hydro turbine power plant would be constructed at its New Dawn Golf Resort, while a gas turbine will be used to generate the electricity needed at its Hill City Community housing units.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Zoe New Dawn Nigeria Limited, Engr. Akpa Stephen said this in Abuja while interacting with journalists.

He said his company has a vision of doing something that has never been done in the Nigerian property sphere.

Fortunately, he said the Golf Resort is a unique land with three streams converging on the land, which guarantees the flow of water all-year-round

“We designed this Golf Resort with the government of Dubai as an arm of construction company called EMAAR and DAMAC, which own 60% of buildings like the Dubai Mall, Burj Khalifa, Jumaira and a lot more. So I wanted to understand why it works there because I learnt that Dubai borrowed money from Nigeria in the 90’s and now it’s a destination state in the UAE. I heard about 60 million tourists visit Dubai monthly because it was pioneered by a vision.

Now they live like kings while others work because they dared to dream and put it into action….”

A Non-Governmental Organisation, Do The Dream Youth Development Initiative, in collaboration with the United States Chicago, Illinois Non-Governmental Organisation, Life Development Centre, recently donated a Leadership Library to Ayedere Ajibola Senior Grammar School, Ketu, Lagos in commemoration of World Literacy Day.

The event had hundreds of students, teachers, and the Tutor General/Permanent Secretary District II, Ministry of Education, Mrs. Anike Adekanye in attendance, where they took their turn to read some pages of a book titled: ‘You can be the Dream’ written by Adebusuyi Olutayo Olumadewa.

Speaking at the event, Adekanye lauded the selfless effort of the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwoolu and the Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Folasade Adefisayo in ensuring qualitative education in the state.

Adekanye described the day as a special one in the lives of students worldwide and appreciated the initiative and the partner for keying into the reality that the government cannot do it alone.

In his words, the Founder/Executive Director of Do The Dream Youth Development Initiative, Adebusuyi Olutayo Olumadewa said the Leadership Library was developed to help students in secondary school enhance their leadership abilities by instilling a passion for reading to help them make informed choices that will benefit their interactions and decisions in the future.

“The Library will teach the Sustainable Development Goals by teaching young people how to localise the SDGs from where they are with what they have.  With the SDGs Corner, we intend to raise young leaders that will cause the wheels to spin.

Real estate firm and construction company, Zoe New Dawn Nigeria Limited, is set to generate electricity, using gas and hydro turbine power plants, for its estate and housing units under construction in the FCT .

A hydro turbine power plant would be constructed at its New Dawn Golf Resort, while a gas turbine will be used to generate the electricity needed at its Hill City Community housing units.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Zoe New Dawn Nigeria Limited, Engr. Akpa Stephen said this in Abuja while interacting with journalists.

He said his company has a vision of doing something that has never been done in the Nigerian property sphere.

Fortunately, he said the Golf Resort is a unique land with three streams converging on the land, which guarantees the flow of water all-year-round

“We designed this Golf Resort with the government of Dubai as an arm of construction company called EMAAR and DAMAC, which own 60% of buildings like the Dubai Mall, Burj Khalifa, Jumaira and a lot more. So I wanted to understand why it works there because I learnt that Dubai borrowed money from Nigeria in the 90’s and now it’s a destination state in the UAE. I heard about 60 million tourists visit Dubai monthly because it was pioneered by a vision.

Now they live like kings while others work because they dared to dream and put it into action….”

In a bid to be well positioned and to thrive successfully in life, career and business, delegates from Nigeria and other countries who participated in the maiden edition of Impact Leadership Conference, Dublin, Ireland, have been advised to embrace continuous learning.

According to a statement by the Convener and leadership Expert, Seyi Agbede, a Nigerian based in Dublin, the leadership conference held recently in Inchicore, Dublin, Ireland with a view to empower participants with necessary skills to be well positioned as leaders for now and in the future.

“The idea of the hybrid conference, Agbede says, was to hold the hands of delegates who aspire to fast track their growth across career, business and life in general.

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“I believe it all begins with learning the rudiments and following through the right process that makes for impactful leadership.”

Furthermore, Agbede said statistics shows that most business start-ups go into extinction before 5years due to so many factors that include a lack of structure, systems, strategy among others.

He also noted that many career men and women have also realized that their journey to success can be shortened if they submit to continuous learning that leads to transformation.

“As a learning and development specialist, I understand these challenges having passed through the same road. As such, I decided to help others by bringing highly resourceful speakers together to address issues that affect business owners and career persons so they can thrive successfully against all odds.”

Delivering their good will messages at the event, Uruemu Adejinmi, Mayor of Longford, Ireland, thanked the convener and said an event like this is a welcome developement as it positions participants for success in their respective endeavours and increase their value in the market place.

Speaking, Councilor, Navan, Ireland, Yemi Adenuga, reiterated the need to embrace continuous learning as training platforms like this empowers participants to give back to the society. Adenuga said she was proud of Agbede for hosting an initiative such as this.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) today begins the training of 31 Community Health Workers in Yobe State to help contain the current outbreak of cholera in the state.

The Coordinator, WHO, Yobe State Field Office, Dr. Nuhu Barau Ningi, disclosed this to journalists in Damaturu at the opening ceremony of the training which took place at the Desert Hall in Damaturu.

According to the coordinator, the trainees will serve as ambassadors who will in turn educate the local people on the current outbreak of the cholera disease as well as give early warning as preventive measures for other diseases like Monkey Pox, COVID 19, measles etc.

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“The purpose of this training is to empower these community leaders so that they would be able to make informed decisions on the prevention of the outbreak, now that we are already experiencing the outbreak of cholera and threats to other outbreaks in the state.

“We have about 869 cases in 9 LGs in Yobe State and that is why we are training these people on the prevention of the diseases in the state.

Also briefing journalists, the representative of the Executive Secretary, Primary Healthcare Management Board  for Yobe State, Satomi Hikama,  Deputy Director Family and Community Health Service at the board, charged the participants to take the training seriously so as to get the desired impact.

He could not confirm any death as at the time of filling this report.

The WHO coordinator also noted that logistics will be made available for the trainees to get to every household in the affected communities to give the right information on the prevention, exposure and the risk of how these diseases are transmitted.