Category: Northern Reports

Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri has officially presented Prof. Kaletapwa Farauta as his running mate for the 2023 election.

Prof. Farauta was named in June as Fintiri’s running mate, evidently to match the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Senator Aishatu Binani.

Farauta was unveiled yesterday at the Government House in Yola, with Fintiri admitting that her choice, above Deputy Governor Crowther Seth, was informed by political expediency and her qualities.

He said: “In politics, there comes a time when beautiful interests are sacrificed for expediency. As we get set to face a new mandate, we have found it expedient to bring on board a fresh hand to join the ticket.

“Prof. Farauta, a woman, a wife and a mother, sits well with the global call for gender sensitivity and affirmative action. She comes to the ticket with rich pedigree and vast knowledge, experience and expertise.

“Having worked with her as Visitor to Adamawa State University, Mubi, where she holds sway as Vice Chancellor), I can, like Chief Crowther, vouch for her character and integrity.

“So, it is for her competence and loyalty. She is the kind of person I would like to work with. We have tested her severally, and she has proven to be dependable. She has been tested by both the APC and the PDP–led governments in the state.”

PDP State Chairman Ahmed Shehu recalled that Farauta served very well when she was appointed Executive Chairman of Adamawa State Universal Basic Education, and thereafter as Commissioner of Education (under the precious APC state government), before her appointment as Vice Chancellor of the state varsity.

Prof. Farauta expressed gratitude for the opportunity to serve at the higher level, and dedicated the honour to the womenfolk.

Director-General of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) Prof. Mohammed Sambo yesterday said the new NHIA Act will ensure that 83 million poor and vulnerable Nigerians have access to qualitative healthcare services.

Sambo explained that the NHIA Act contains provisions for the Vulnerable Group Fund (VGF), ‘which shall be expended to provide subsidy for health insurance coverage of vulnerable persons as determined by the Council; and for the payment of health insurance premiums for the indigent’.

‘The Vulnerable Group Fund will be funded through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF), health insurance levy, special intervention allocated by the government, money accrued to the Fund from investments, grants, donations, gifts and other voluntary contributions,” he noted.

Sambo, who addressed a news conference in Abuja, said: “At the point when President Muhammadu Buhari was signing the NHIA Law, he made a pledge that Nigeria and his government will make provision for the 83 million segment of vulnerable populations to be covered under the social health insurance. This is one of the potencies of the mandatory bill.

“We are happy that the Office of the Vice President has carried out a national social register which has identified people that are poor in all states. The register is within the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs. We plan to utilise the register. Since the programme will be implemented at the state level, we will ask the states to ensure that at the point of capturing people into the National Health Insurance Scheme, that data is validated.

“After validation, we intend to deploy the implementation of the Vulnerable Group Fund. The mechanism for the Vulnerable Group Fund will be exactly like the mechanism of the BHCPF. We will utilise state structures to deliver this through close monitoring and deploying of ICT.

“NHIA is making a very strong case that the tax from Sugar Sweetened Beverage (SSBs) should be channeled to the NHIS to cover the vulnerable in the population. That does not push away our quest for the telecommunication tax. We will still go and pursue the telecommunication tax to ensure it is encapsulated in the financial act of the government, so that whatever proceeds that is approved from there can come to the national health insurance scheme.”

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau State has moved to reconcile persons aggrieved with the primaries with a view to approaching the 2023 elections with a united front.

State Chairman Chris Hassan stated this when he accompanied the party’s governorship candidate, Caleb Mutfwang, to his home town of Mangu.

Hassan noted that Mutfwang’s emergence as the governorship candidate has strengthened the party’s acceptability towards winning all elections in 2023.

Mutfwang, who received blessings of the Mangu traditional rulers and Plateau elders, said the party is poised to wrestle power from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and provide credible leadership for the state.

The candidate said he will leverage on his experience as a former local government chairman to work with the grassroots and run a people-oriented government. He promised that every ethnic group on the Plateau will be given a sense of belonging in his administration.

He added: “We are reconciling party members and making sure that we sensitise people so that when the campaigns start in earnest, we will go in as a united people.”

Deputy Governorship Candidate Josephine Piyo applauded women for trooping out enmasse to receive the PDP governorship candidate ‘who has great consideration for women in the rebuilding of Plateau State’.

Piyo assured them that Mutfwang will be gender-friendly in providing leadership on the Plateau if given the mandate, having ceded the deputy governorship position to women. She said women will play key roles in the government.

Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello has approved  N15m  scholarship award to a 12-year-old table tennis prodigy, Sezuo Ize Azziza.

The beneficiary represented Kogi State at the 2021 Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) National Championship in Lagos.

Confirming the report, Chief Press Secretary to the  Governor, Muhammed Onogwu, noted that the approval which will be released into the beneficiary’s account to cater for her education from secondary school up until university was in fulfilment of the governor’s promise to the fatherless tennis lad.

Azziza, who was born into a less privileged family and loosing her father a very tender age desired to study Medicine and Surgery in the University, a dream the governor alluded must not be hindered  because of her family’s financial status

Azziza recently caught the governor’s attention with her brilliant and exceptional performance at a tournament where she represented the state.

The CPS noted that the governor was amazed by the kid’s brilliance when he received Azziza and her family in his office in Lokoja, he said the governor stressed that the lad was not only skilful in her extracurricular activities but a brilliant teenager that must be given all  the necessary support to enable her actualise her dreams.

Reacting to the development, the  Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Wemi Jones praised the governor for promoting girl-child education and other intervention in improving education development in Kogi State.

The committee set by the Sokoto State government to investigate the May 12 unrest at the Shehu Shagari College of Education (SSCOE) has submitted its report to Governor Aminu Tambuwal

Tambuwal, after receiving the report and noted the recommendations, as well heard from various stakeholders and leaders on the need to reopen the college, said his administration will look into the possibility of doing so.

The governor also directed the Governing Council of the College to convene a meeting with a view to reopening the school soonest, while assuring the people that the government will implement the recommendations of the committee. He said doing so will prevent a recurrence, not only in affected college, but in all tertiary institutions in the state.

A statement by the governor’s media aide, Muhammad Bello, also appealed to the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to find a common ground towards ending the prolonged strike.

“No issues are beyond resolution. We must, in the interest of our children and our country, find a common ground. There is give and take in negotiations, hence ASUU and the Federal Government should shift positions and accommodate each other so that students can return to school.”

The Niger State House of Assembly has admonished Governor Abubakar Sani Bello and the state Independent Electoral Commission (NSIEC) to suspend the scheduled timetable for the local government elections due to insecurity.

The electoral body last week announced its timetable for the local government elections. According to the timetable, primary elections will hold from August 20 to 27, while the main election will hold on November 5.

But the lawmakers noted that while the scheduled timetable is contrary to the extant local government elections law which gives 180 days from the conduct of the primaries before the elections can be conducted, it is also impossible to hold campaigns and elections at this period when the state is facing severe insecurity challenges.

The motion for the suspension of the election was raised under matters of public importance by the lawmaker representing Bosso Constituency, Madaki Malik Bosso, and deliberated during plenary yesterday.

Madaki said: “…we should be informed that the extent laws which provides for the conduct of council election in Niger State, as provided in Section 20 of the Niger State Council Election Law (2002), are the Electoral Act, 2022 and the Niger State Local Government (Council Election) Law 2002, the Niger State Local Government Law (2001).”

Arewa Coalition for Good Governance (ACGG) has said the hardline positions of former Secretary to the Federal Government Babachir Lawal, former Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara and Adamawa lawmaker, Senator Ishaku Abbo, over the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC), are based on selfish interests.    According to the Coalition, their anger was based on the premise that none of them was picked as running mate.

“At a time when critical stakeholders of the APC should be working for unity and progress ahead of the 2023 general elections, they have decided to deploy religious sentiments as a weapon of war to discourage Christians from Tinubu/Shettima,” the coalition said.

A statement by one of its leaders in Kaduna State, Elder Peter Auta, reads: “Nigerians, especially the electorate, are wise enough to know that whipping religious sentiments against any candidate is not the solution to the challenges of insecurity, dwindling economy, insurgency, high unemployment, bad governance and other problems militating against progress and development of Nigeria.

“The Holy Bible gave Christians the mandate to pray for leaders, anything out of this is not only unhealthy, but retrogressive. This is why, among several other reasons, Christian leaders in various churches decided to speak against the divisive move by our brothers to create a religious crack in the polity ahead of the 2023 elections.

“Instead of holding nocturnal meetings to fight the issue of Muslim -Muslim Ticket, we expected them to spend energy on talking about how to contribute their quota to finding solutions to the plethora of problems that have served as a cog in the wheel of progress in the last 20 years.

“Babachir and Dogara could be the ones working to overheat the polity and destroy same party that gave them political relevance, we hold the view that this is nothing but mere selfish interest of the spent forces which should be rejected. Everyone knows that both Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima are not religious bigots, so they should know that whipping up religious sentiments against them won’t work.

“We are urging Christians to shun Babachir, Dogara and Senator Abbo’s divisive strategies, and vote candidates of their choice regardless of religion and tribal backgrounds. The most important thing for Nigerians now is come out during the elections and vote good leaders based on merit, experience and records of performance.”

Sokoto State Commissioner for Careers and Security Matters Col. Garba Moyi (rtd) has defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

His defection is coming barely 24 hours after the Chairman of Tangaza Local Government Area, Salihu Kalanjine, joined the APC.

A statement by Senator Aliyu Wamakko’s Special Adviser on New Media, Bashar Abubakar, said Moyi left the PDP because ‘Tambuwal’s administration lacks trust and focus to govern efficiently’.

It explained further that Moyi doesn’t want Senator Wamakko to direct the affairs of Sokoto APC supporters alone without being associated with his giant efforts.

The statement reads: “The Commissioner announced his resignation as a member of the PDP and also as member of the State Executive Council in charge of the Ministry of Careers and Security Matters.

“Senator Wamakko, who received Moyi at his home, urged him to work hard in ensuring APC’s victory in Sokoto East and the state in the 2023 general elections.

“Col. Moyi was accompanied by the APC deputy governorship candidate Idris Gobir, senatorial and House of Representatives candidates Ibrahim Isa and Abdulkadir Danbuga, and the APC chairman in Sabon Birni council, Yawale Baki.

China’s Ambassador to Nigeria Qui Jian Chun has said his country is passionate about exploring viable areas of partnership, especially in Nuclear Energy, in Nigeria, and more specifically Kogi State.

Chun noted that his key interest as the Ambassador was to facilitate China’s investment and also utilise China’s technology for the benefit of Nigeria and certain states like Kogi. He noted that Nuclear Energy would further attract investment to the state, improve its infrastructure, tax revenue, job creation and attract vast social economic developments.

The Ambassador yesterday led a delegation of the China National Nuclear Cooperation (CNNC) to the Kogi State Government House in Lokoja. He hoped the meeting will birth a historical moment where the CNNC would be able to establish one of the two proposed Nuclear Power Plants (NPP) in the state.

Chun promised top to establish a Department of Nuclear Energy at the Confluence University of Science and Technology, Osara, and other institutions, as part of plans to nurture local breed in the field. He added that the Kogi State government should similarly encourage and facilitate some of its young engineering talents for exchange programmes in the country.

Governor Yahaya Bello, who thanked the Chinese Ambassador for finding Kogi worthy of such recommendations, said the meeting was between two sincere governments who are both interested in the advancement of the people.

He said the government will internalise the plans to foster the relationship with the Chinese government by engaging in every discussion in the interest of the people.

Bello assured Chun and the CNNC team that their relationship with the state will be different from any other, saying the state will be glad to have a stronger tie with China.

Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS) has generated N18.04 billion as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in the first six months of 2022, the Executive Chairman, Mrs. Shade Omoniyi, has said.

This is an increase from the N16 billion generated halfway into year 2021.

Mrs. Omoniyi added that the agency has also concluded its staff appraisal and promotion exercise for the year 2021.

She added: “A major outcome of the exercise is the promotion of 332 and step upgrade of 235 members of staff; the list of beneficiaries shows inclusion of 16 senior staff and 316 junior staff.

“This is in recognition of their contribution to the overall achievement of the service, and particularly in the actualisation of the 95.61 per cent of our annual budget of 2021, a feat that is the highest target hit since the agency was founded in 2016.

“This milestone is an attestation to the effort of the Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq led administration in rewarding performance and ensuring that conducive work and business environment are in place, and a Kwara of everyone’s dreams can become a reality.

“As a service, we are resolute in our bid to continuously prioritise staff welfare in all ramifications; develop an extensive training plan for all, with focus on relevant areas as it affects our operations, better service delivery, support a work life balance and continuous review and improvement on the appraisal process…”