The Kano State Government yesterday said it has settled the registration fees of 29,031 students of different public schools who will be writing this year’s National Examination Council (NECO) examination.

The State Commissioner for Information, Malam Muhammad Garba, who said the money for the examination has been substantially settled, was reacting to media reports that Kano students may miss this year’s NECO examination over N1.5 billion unpaid fees.

In a chat with reporters in Kano, Garba denied that the state owed NECO N1.5 billion.

He said NECO was insisting on payment of N700 million before Kano students would be allowed to participate in the examination of which the state government paid NECO N366 million last week.

“What we are supposed to pay NECO is N334 million,” he said.

Malam Garba said the state has made a settlement for 15,313 students who got nine Credits from its qualifying examination and the essay will commence on July 4.

He said the state also made payment for 1,018 students with disabilities and another payment for 7,300 students through the governor’s wife’s Special Intervention which is basically for the girl child education, adding that the local government councils paid for 5,400 students.

“This means that the story that Kano has N1.5 billion unpaid NECO fees is not true,” he stated and added that 29,031 Kano students will sit for the examination.

It was also reported that NECO commenced the 2022 SSCE yesterday.

However, Garba said the examination was not to hold yesterday. Rather, it was the test interpretation practical and was only for teachers to come up with modalities for the practical examinations.

The Yobe State Government has declared tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday work-free days to enable civil servants to register, revalidate and collect their Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs).

The declaration followed an approval granted by the State Governor, Mai Mala Buni as contained in a circular dated June 27 with reference number GO/S/HOS/GEN/3/T.II signed by the Acting Head of Service, Alhaji Bilal Garba.

“I write to convey the approval of Governor Mai Mala Buni’s declaration of tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday as work-free days to enable civil servants to travel to their respective local government areas to register, revalidate and collect their PVCs.

Read Also: PVC: Bala Mohammed declares Monday work free day

A Federal High Court in Abuja had stopped the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from ending voter registration on June 30.

Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon of Court 10 granted an order of interim injunction following the hearing of an argument on motion ex parte by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).

Also in Plateau State, the Chairman of Qua’an-Pan Local Government Area, Ernest Abner Da’a has enjoined eligible voters in the area to take advantage of the two-day public holiday in the state to register and acquire their Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs).

Governor Simon Lalong had declared a two-day public holiday for citizens of the state to enable them to register and obtain their PVCs for next year’s general election.

Da’a made the appeal in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Stephen Sarki Musa, also called on them to continue to patronise the designated INEC Continuous Voters Registration Centres.

Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum yesterday swore in 19 commissioners.

The swearing-in ceremony comes two months after Zulum dissolved the State Executive Council ahead of the All Progressives Congress primaries.

The Chief Judge of Borno State, Justice Kashim Zanna administered the oath of office on the commissioners through the representation of a High Court Judge, Justice Fadawu Umaru.

The event also witnessed the swearing-in of a new Permanent Secretary, Alhaji Abu Abadam, a senior director at the Ministry of Water Resources.

Read Also: Akeredolu forwards two Commissioners nominee to Assembly

The governor urged the officials to exhibit exemplary leadership and diligence in the running of government affairs.

He advised them to give him good advice to move the state forward.

He said all commissioners should form working relationships with their permanent secretaries.

He said the commissioners should hold regular meetings with stakeholders in their ministries and forward resolutions and recommendations to him through the office of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG).

He urged them to take the lead in promoting punctuality at work reminding them that office hours remained from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. except on Fridays when work ends at noon.

Ahead of next year’s general election, a mass exodus of key stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Nasarawa State has hit the party with large followership threatening the chances of the party in next year’s general election.

The member representing Nasarawa North Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Godiya Akwashiki, who is representing the Governor’s zone, dumped the party yesterday in Nasarawa Eggon Local Government Area of the state.

The Director-General of Governor Abdullahi Sule’s campaign organisation in 2019, Senator John Danboyi, as well as the Chairman of the 2019 campaign council of the Governor’s team, Aliyu Wadada also dumped the ruling APC in the state.

Wadada was the runner-up in the 2019 APC governorship primaries that produced Abdullahi Sule as the candidate of the party.

Read Also: 10,000 Osun PDP members defect to APC

Similarly, a two-term member of the House of Representatives representing Lafia/Obi Federal Constituency Abubakar Sarki Dahiru and his counterpart in Karu/Kokona/Keffi Federal Constituency, Jonathan Gaza have equally dumped the APC.

While Dahiru cited injustice done to him by the leadership of the party, Gaza cited doctoring of delegates’ list in favour of his opponent in the primaries.

Senator John Danboyi has since joined the New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP), Aliyu Wadada, who resigned his membership of the party cited has joined the SDP to emerge as its senatorial candidate for Nasarawa West Senatorial District while Gaza also joined the SDP to return back to the House for the third term.

Senator Godiya Akwashiki made his position known in Nassarawa Eggon yesterday when he inaugurated the construction of a 2km Nassarawa Eggon/Galle Road, in Nassarawa Eggon Local Government Area of the state.

“In the next 72 hours, you will see a platform that I will join and we will all move together,” he said.

The Senator stated that he was dumping the party due to the alleged doctoring of the delegates’ list by the APC National Secretariat during the recently-conducted primary election of the party.

“You have seen and you are all aware of what transpired during the APC primary election in Akwanga. I have withdrawn from the race because delegates’ lists were doctored by the party.

“I have been under pressure by you to leave the party and today, I have answered your call to leave APC and to actualize my re-election ambition. In the next 72 hours, you will see a platform that I will join and we will all move together,” he said.

The Kaduna State Government yesterday reacted to the sack of 2,357 primary school teachers.

The state government had, a few weeks ago, sacked over 2,000 primary school teachers over inefficiency and poor qualification.

It also dismissed the National President of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) for not taking part in the compulsory competency test.

The Chairman of Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board (KADSUBEB) Tijani Abdullahi yesterday said the sack of the alleged unqualified teachers was to boost primary education in the state.

Read Also: Teachers’ sack akin to kidnapping, PDP chieftain tells El-Rufai

He said the state government sacked over 2,000 teachers because it wants to achieve quality education, and promote the activities of the NUT.

In a chat with reporters on the government’s position on the matter, the SUBEB Chairman noted that there are plans to recruit 10,000 teachers to address the huge gap in the teacher-student ratio.

Also yesterday, no fewer than 1,193 intending 2022 Hajj pilgrims left Kaduna State for Saudi Arabia.

They are part of the 2,491 slots allocated to the Kaduna State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Agency by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria.

The agency’s spokesman, Malam Salisu Anchau, told reporters yesterday in Kaduna that the pilgrims were from 14 out of the 23 local government areas.

He said the pilgrims from Igabi, Zaria, Ikara, Giwa, Soba, Lere, Kagarko, Kaduna North, Kudan, Kaura, Zangon Kataf, Sanga, Kachia, and Chikun local government areas were taken to Saudi Arabia in three flights.

Anchau assured that the remaining 1,298 intending pilgrims would be taken to Saudi Arabia within the stipulated time frame.

The Kebbi State Government has allocated 200 hectares of land to a private investor to set up a 5,600 megawatts solar power plant in the state.

The former Chief of Staff to Governor Atiku Bagudu, Alhaji Suleiman Muhammad-Argungu, told reporters in Birnin-Kebbi, the state capital, that the company would soon begin work on the project.

A team of 30 Canadian technicians are due in the state to begin work on the project.

“The project will be located at Fakon Sarki in Argungu and has been designed to improve and stabilise electricity supply to all communities in the state, as well as to create jobs,” he said.

He added that the state had already secured the consent of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to set up a transmission station to be sited between Argungu and Fakon Sarki.

Read Also: Saudi Arabia disburses N131m allowances to 1,960 orphans in Kebbi

Muhammad-Argungu is the National Organising Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He said Kebbi State had also facilitated the private sector investment in air transportation with the opening of an aviation college in the state.

He said the aviation college sited at Ahmadu Bello International Airport, Birnin-Kebbi, would train pilots and aeronautics engineers.

“This will pave way for daily commercial flights from the state to other parts of Nigeria and African countries.

“Already, the college has begun the training of 60 people, out of whom 80 per cent are indigenous to Kebbi State,” he said.

Muhammad-Argungu praised the state government for interventions in the industrial sector which led to the setting up of rice mills in Argungu, Birnin-Kebbi and Kamba, as well as tomato processing factory at Ngaski.

The National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) has trained and onboarded 25 streams two independent monitors in Benue State to complement the stream one which is already on the field.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajjia Sadiya Umar Farouq, who was represented by the Deputy Director, Planning, Research and Statistics, Safiya Sani, said the programme, which aims at job creation such as Npower, National Home Grown Home Feeding Programme (NHGSFP), Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, and the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, was a deliberate plan by the Federal Government to lift citizens out of poverty.

The minister said NSIP Independent Monitors will be responsible for monitoring the programme in their community in schools, households, and market clusters with the focus of ensuring that the primary objectives of the NSIPs are achieved.

The training and onboarding of stream two independent monitors were flagged off earlier in Abuja and its team was in the state to carry out the same programme.

She said monitors are one of the most important components of the NSIP and the ministry lays special emphasis on ensuring its programmes are closely monitored, saying that the ministry has monitors in every local government where NSIPs are being implemented with work tools for them to carry out their activities on the field effectively.

New Dream for Grassroots Development (NDGD), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has raised the alarm over the danger posed by vote-buying to Nigeria’s democracy.

The organisation said it frowned at the alleged vote-buying during the Ekiti governorship election on June 18.

According to the organisation, party agents, acting as fronts of their political parties, allegedly paid voters N10, 000 each to the electorate to vote for their candidates.

In a statement, the National Coordinator of NDGD, Dr Onwubuya Breakforth said: “In the last few weeks, NDGD has been monitoring political developments in our country, especially the ugly incidences of vote-buying that prevailed at the just-concluded Ekiti governorship election.

Read Also; Ekiti: UK concerned about vote-buying

“We frown at what happened in Ekiti where party agents, acting as fronts of their political parties, allegedly paid voters N10,000 each to the electorate to vote for their candidates.

“This act of voter-inducement deflects the moral fibre of our democratic ethics. While the citizens look up to our political leaders to entrench credible democratic values, sadly what happened in Ekiti is shameful and condemnable.

“Vote-buying is dangerous. It is an aberration and violation of our electoral rule. This must stop.

“We, therefore, call on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to carry out a thorough investigation into these incidences of vote-buying in the Ekiti election and at the Presidential Primaries of All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), respectively.

“We must not allow these events to repeat themselves during next year’s general election.”

Micro-enterprises around Adamawa State have interacted with development and regulatory agencies on how to improve operations and raise income.

The programme, Feed the Future Nigeria Rural Resilience Activity, which took place in Yola, attracted micro-enterprise owners and officials of regulatory agencies, including the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to an MSME Clinic and Exhibition.

The organisers said the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Clinic Booth Fair was for the regulatory agencies to provide their services for the micro-enterprises in a less formal setting.

“Some of these enterprises may not know that they are big enough for these regulatory agencies whose services they need,” said the Communications Manager of the Rural Resilience Activity, Ayodele Adesanmi.

Read Also; WHO immunises 1m Adamawa children against malaria

Implemented by Mercy Corps, with support from the International Fertiliser Development Centre (IFDC) and Save the Children International (SCI) primarily in the Northeast states of Adamawa, Borno, Gombe, and Yobe, the Feed the Future Nigeria Rural Resilience Activity is a five-year, USAID-funded programme which seeks to facilitate economic recovery and growth in vulnerable, conflict-affected areas by promoting systemic change in market systems.

The programme targets 540,000 beneficiaries.

The Leader of Wisdom Development Cooperative, Mrs Debitha Ishaya said the Fair at which the cooperative and others would display their goods and have the opportunity to direct questions to regulatory agencies, was one of many ways that Mercy Corps had helped the growth of their businesses.

The Adamawa State Coordinator of NAFDAC, Gonzuk Nyor, said NAFDAC had done much to promote small enterprises, stating that “NAFDAC has a matching order from the Federal Government to help the enterprises. We are enlightening them on how producers of similar goods can team up and utilise the same production lines.

Hundreds of members of a number of cooperative and business groups attended the two-day MSME Clinic Booth Fair which took place at the Women Development Centre, Yola.

The Spokesperson of the Nigeria Customs Service has said the Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax passed in the Finance Act, which was passed on December 31, 2021, has been implemented since the first of June 2022.

This update came at a policy meeting organised by members of the National Action on Sugar Reduction, a coalition of organisations advocating for policy measures to tackle the health risks of consuming sugar-sweetened beverages.

At the meeting that included representatives of the Nigeria Customs Service, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, and Civil Society Organisations, Mr Dennis ltuma of Customs confirmed that the SSB Tax was implemented on the first day of June 2022.

He said a sensitisation session came out during a town hall meeting set up to brief the beverage manufacturing industries.

The coalition commended the efforts of Nigeria Customs for it unwavering support in ensuring the implementation of the tax.

Read Also: Fed Govt to eliminate multiple taxes in transport sector

Mr Itumah further said: “Customs excise laws stipulate that there should be returns monthly and the law stipulates that it should come on the 21st day before the preceding month.”

To have an idea of how much this new sugar-sweetened beverage tax is going to generate, Mr Dennis Ituma gave the figure that was generated from excise taxes on tobacco and alcoholic beverages from 2018 to 2021.

He said: “Alcoholic beverages and tobacco products have contributed over N414 billion to the Federal Government within that time frame.”

This generated revenue, if utilised as a health policy tool, will go a long way toward the treatment and prevention of no communicable diseases.

The Executive Director of Project Pink Blue, a cancer support organisation Runcie Chidebe, in a moving statement that resonated with all stakeholders present, said: “We need to connect the SSBs to real people and not just numbers. People are lined up in long queues at the hospital due to SSB-related illnesses.”

Mr Marcel Sati of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning also added that, if earmarked, funds should be targeted towards the Basic Health care Provision Fund and the Vulnerable People Fund. Relevant agencies and parastatals need to sit and cooperate to ensure proper implementation.”

The coalition is set to ensure that revenue from the implemented SSB tax is earmarked as a health policy tool to ensure its use for the prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as type-2 diabetes. Its next advocacy step will be a push towards ensuring the earmarking of tax revenue for health services provision.