Category: Northern Reports

Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) on Saturday disclosed how Ahmed Dangana, a management consultant and business turnaround specialist, emerged as the new Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company.

KEDCO Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Ibrahim Sani Shawai, said the power sector regulators, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) had approved the appointment of the board of KEDCO Plc.

The approval, he explained, followed the Federal Government’s restructuring of 5 DisCos,  as a result of takeover of 3 DisCos by Fidelity Bank, of which KEDCO is among.

“This led to the dissolution of the KEDCO’s board of directors. And in this regard, NERC and BPE approved the appointment of Ahmed Dangana as the new Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company,” Shawai said.

The regulators also approved Ambassador Hassan Tukur as the chairman Board of Directors. Other members of the board are: Mr. Nelson Ahaneku, Engr Rabiu Suleiman, Mr Amaechi C. Aloke and Dr. Bashir Gwandu.

KEDCO said Dangana will improve the company’s revenue base, by consolidating on the achievements of past management to improve operational efficiency and deliver long term value in the company by reducing Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection (ATC&C) losses.

As a deliberate move to curb rising unemployment in Plateau State, Gov. Simon Lalong has charged the Plateau State employment council to generate 20,000 jobs before the end of 2022.

Lalong gave the charge in Government House, Rayfield, Jos, yesterday while inaugurating the state employment council.

The 25-member state employment council, which is chaired by the Secretary to the Government of Plateau State, Prof. Danladi Atu, is to liaise with the National Employment Council for any employment opportunity at the national level.

Lalong, who was represented by the deputy governor, Prof. Sonny Tyoden, mandated the council to mop up every employment opportunity available in the state, so as to close the rising rate of unemployment in the state.

Lalong said, “As you are all aware, unemployment is a major social and economic problem facing Nigeria and indeed Plateau, resulting in poverty, hunger and insecurity among others. This is why governments at the national and sub-national levels have made reduction of unemployment a major focus by adopting various measures, policies and programmes towards addressing the menace.

“Even though high unemployment rate in Plateau may have been impacted by this obvious movement of young people from other northern states to Plateau State in search of opportunities, nevertheless, the current rate of unemployment in the state is very concerning and therefore needs to be addressed urgently, considering the impact of high unemployment on crimes and criminality and general breach of the peace and security in the state.”

The 25- member council has the chairman, Plateau Youth Council as member.

In her remarks, the GIZ projects coordinator in Plateau State, Mrs. Hauwa Mankilik, who revealed that unemployment rate in Plateau State is 26.5 percent, said the GIZ entered talks with the office of SSG in the state with the aims of organising a policy dialogue, where all stakeholders will brainstorm on ways to generate jobs for the youths and reduce the challenge.

A police inspector, Mike Orkuma, attached to Benue State Police Command, Makurdi, needs about N8.6m to regain his hearing loss.

Inspector Mike Orkuma, 45, had a brilliant career as a policeman and was looking forward to more promotions before retirement.

However, his brilliant police  career may be coming to an abrupt halt if something urgent is not done.

Narrating the incident which led to his hearing loss, Inspector Orkuma told The Nation that he had malaria and typhoid, and was administered chloroquine injection on the 13/3/2021.

“After the injection, I reacted into bilateral hearing loss and I underwent treatment and audiological evaluations, which finally confirmed me deaf,” Orkuma said.

He told The Nation that doctors said he can only regain hearing with the benefit of a cochlear implant which costs N8.6m and is far above his income as a police inspector.

As a family man with a wife, four children and three siblings under his care, the burden of survival are enormous and is appealing to  spirited Nigerians and Non-Government Organisations to help him with funds to  undergo the surgery to regain his hearing .

“I was about writing my final year Law examination the National open University (NOUN) Makurdi  Study Center, when suddenly I was struck with this impairment,” said Orkuma.

Three years after, the four outstanding students in the Niger State Debate Team are still living in expectation of the scholarship promise made to them by the state governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello.

The supposed beneficiaries of the scholarship; Aliyu Bala Ibrahim, Muhammad Amin, Shamsiyya Usman and Kingsley Marvel had participated in the Europe debate tournament in the Czech Republic in 2017.

The Nation learnt that three of the students are currently in tertiary institutions sponsored by their parents while one is still at home as he is not able to further his studies due to financial constraints.

The team have expressed disappointment over the failed promise of the governor who made the pledge in the presence of the President of the Schools Debate Nigeria (PSDN), political appointees and the media in 2017.

One of the affected students, Shamsiyya Usman, took to his Facebook page on Friday to lament the failed promise, stating that the Governor had dimmed the hope of the youths in the state.

“In what seems like the blink of an eye, in the next 16 days, it will mark three years since I, Shamsiyya Usman, Aliyu Bala Ibrahim, Muhammad Amin and Marvel Cyril were publicly offered scholarships by the Governor which we still didn’t get the opportunity to enjoy till now.

“During a visit to the Governor, he appreciated the delegates and the debate team, giving the delegates his word that the team would participate at the World Schools Debate Championship in Croatia the following year. He also gave cash rewards to both parties and also offered scholarships to the four students which include I, Shamsiyya Usman, Aliyu Bala Ibrahim, Muhammad Amin and Marvel Cyril.

“Our hopes came crashing down after our trip to Croatia the following year was cancelled due to financial issues. Nevertheless, we had hoped that our scholarship would be a different case when the time comes. The four of us passed our SSCE and JAMB with flying colours.”

Usman stated that all efforts made to get the scholarship proved abortive as nothing came out of visits to the state SUBEB Chairman, the Commissioner of Education and the Commissioner of local government and Chieftaincy Affairs.

Usman pleaded with the Governor to grant them an audience so that they would speak to him regarding the scholarship.

Federal Government has said it would  start tracking the movement and transportation of explosives around the country.

The tracking would be done under the supervision of the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development.

Director Mines Inspectorate office of the Ministry, Engr Frank Odom said the tracking and monitoring of explosives will be done so the government is not caught unawares.

Odom said this in Abuja, at a two days technical training of quarry managers by Nigachem Nigeria Ltd, tagged ‘Explosives management and optimization training.’

He said, “Right now they are moving without monitoring somehow when they are on the roads, this is just Putting an additional method like on phones and tablets, you can see when materials leaves the point where it is conveyed from to where it would be delivered for usage.

“The tracking is to prevent diversion, if there is any delay on the way you raise an alarm and call closest security formation, we don’t pray for it but it serves if they are being attacked. If you are monitoring any kind of truck or anybody in motion ones it stops for more than two to three hours for instance you must raise an alarm, it’s normal to ask questions.

“It helps you to know per minute and second what is happening. Most of the other organisations are using it so it’s not new, there is nothing too sophisticated about it. We are working towards having companies that are designated specifically for explosive movement, they will be registered and licensed for that purpose, although we are not there yet, we are just putting things together.

“However it would be done by the Ministry and when the companies come upstream, they would be compelled to do the same, monitoring cannot be too much, it is all to ensure that we are not cut unawares.”

Social Democratic Party SDP, standard bearer,  Prince Adewole Adebayo, has assured  that if elected, he would  from the day he is sworn in as president of Federal Republic of Nigeria,  make full disclosure of where the country’s money is. He said for too long, the whereabouts of Nigeria’s money has been shrouded in mystery. “One of the things that you Nigerians will know when I get to office is that you will know where your money is. There is too much mystery about Nigerian money. Even President Buhari today cannot tell you how much money Nigeria has. Board members of NNPC, now NNPL, don’t know how much the company has. Minister of Finance does not know where government money is.

“You will have a full forensic of where your money is once I get into office,” he stated.

He said Nigeria’s over-dependence on oil is because of ingenuity of the leaders, explaining that petroleum, during his reign as president, especially in his first year, will be in the withdrawal zone. “Nigeria makes about 20m dollars from ginger. Even in a good year, we don’t gross up to 120m dollars a year. If only we invest a little more to squeeze our ginger and get ginger oil, we will be making 1.4b dollars from ginger oil.

“If you go into the value chain of some of the produce, you will see that petroleum isn’t a big deal. At the peak of Jonathan’s tenure when oil price was above 100 dollars and everybody was clapping, I wasn’t really impressed because I have an oil palm plantation that I was selling my palm oil at 660 dollars per barrel. This was why Michael Opara created the Ada palm in the Eastern region. I am not the kind of president who is running for office because of NNPL.

“Presidency under me won’t share oil money. Rather, I will put the federal government allocation of the money into sovereign fund and then dedicate it to building hospitals all over the place. I am not going to mainstream oil money into my budget . The present generation has spent enough of oil money, we need to keep for the future”, he said.

The Special Task Force codenamed Operation SAFE HAVEN has trained 165 members of the  Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) on community watch and security information gathering process in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State.

Delivering his keynote address at the passing out ceremony at Riyom Township Stadium, the Commander Operation SAFE HAVEN, Major General Ibrahim Ali, said security of the communities required continuous  collaboration and  support of the people.

He pointed out that timely sharing of information with the security agencies is key to peace and security of the communities.

The Commander who was represented by the Deputy Commander Operation SAFE HAVEN, DCP Mohammad Rabiu, reminded the trainees of the oath of allegiance to which they swore and warned them to be more vigilant and impartial in the discharge of their duties.

Earlier in his welcome remarks,  the Commander Sector 6 Riyom, Colonel Hassan Gwani , had revealed that the trainees were drawn from various communities that cut across religious and ethnic backgrounds.

“The trained vigilantes are to work with the security agencies in monitoring activities of criminal elements and report accordingly “ he said.

Member representating Riyom in Plateau State House of Assembly,  Hon Timothy Dachung and the Chairman Riyom Local Government Area,  Hon Mafeng Gwalson hailed Operation SAFE HAVEN for initiating measures to secure the communities on the Plateau.

Delivering his vote of thanks,  the Ata Ateh of Ganawuri, His Royal Highness,  Da Yakubu Chairman,  pledged the continues support of community leaders and the people of Riyom to troops of Operation SAFE HAVEN.

Highlight of the event was the presentation of writing materials to primary school pupils and oath-taking ceremony, administered by the Chief Magistrate of Riyom, Justice Noknaan Dreakat.

The House of Representatives has expressed concern over the continued communal clashes among communities in Langtang North Local Government Area of Plateau State and sought the immediate intervention of the Federal Government and its agencies to halt the clashes and killings associated with it.

Adopting a motion of urgent public importance by Beni Lar, the House also urged the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to assist in providing the people of the affected communities with relief materials to cushion the effects of the crises.

Lar lamented that the Lyangit and Kumbwang communities of Langtang North Local Government Area of Plateau State have been engaged in a series of communal clashes resulting from a land disputes.

According to her, the most recent communal clash which occurred last month claimed several lives and properties worth millions of naira, while many people were rendered homeless as houses in the communities were razed down.

She said it was unfortunate that the communities have suffered tremendous loss of lives and properties, adding that if nothing is done to intervene and restore lasting peace in these communities, these re-occurring communal clashes will continue unabated and lead to further loss of lives and properties.

She further said many displaced people are currently passing through untold hardship as they have no shelter and food for their sustenance and that soon, these displaced people may start dying as a result of exposure to unfavourable weather and starvation because they have no shelter and access to good food and drinkable water.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) yesterday said inadequate funding, particularly in domestic funding for Tuberculosis (TB), is hampering the country’s efforts to end the TB epidemic by 2030.

While the global health body further stated that in 2021, 70 per cent of the TB budget was not funded, available data shows that there is a 70 per cent funding deficit for the TB budget in Nigeria, with 23 per cent of funding coming from donor partners and only seven per cent from the government.

The WHO further stated that with 258,000 missing TB cases in Nigeria, even though case detection increased by 50 per cent between 2020 and 2021, the country may not achieve the global goal to end TB by 2030.

During a virtual media roundtable organised by the Stop TB Partnership in Nigeria, in collaboration with the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme (NTBLCP) of the Federal Ministry of Health, the National Professional Officer of TB in Nigeria for WHO, Dr Amos Omoniyi said: “Nigeria is off-track in its target to end TB in the year 2030, even though case notification increased by 50 per cent between 2020 and 2021. If we continue with the current trend of case findings, we may begin to see a decline in cases, but may not achieve the 2030 target. We may achieve the 2035 target.

“Nigeria needs to mobilise adequate domestic resources for TB and implement data-driven, evidence-based and technology-enhanced interventions. Also, efforts need to be ramped up as 452,000 Nigerians fall ill with TB every year, while one person dies of TB every three minutes.”

The National Coordinator of the NTBLCP, Dr Chukwuma Anyaike, noted that while Nigeria is still ranked first in Africa and 6th in the world for TB burden, 71 per cent of TB patients in Nigeria are still affected by catastrophic costs.

“Last year, we were able to notify over 207,000 cases of TB. There is however still more to be done to end TB in Nigeria,” he said.

The Deputy Executive Director of the Stop TB Partnership in Geneva, Dr Sahu Suvanand, while noting that globally $250 billion is needed annually to combat TB, urged Nigeria to increase domestic funding through the budget.