The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) yesterday vowed to prosecute an Abuja landlord for allegedly drilling over a 200-meters borehole on the road in front of an estate.

The borehole is drilled at No 4, Sani Zangon Daura Street, off Bala Muhammad Way, Guzape District.

Security operatives attached to the FCTA immediately arrested five workers found at work on the site for further questioning.

The Director of Development Control Muktar Galadima, who led the operation, warned developers and landlords against the destruction of public properties, adding that the FCT Administration would prosecute any violator.

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Galadima said: “We woke up and noticed that someone was drilling a borehole on our road. They drilled the borehole on our pedestrian walkway.

“This is serious damage to the environment. Definitely, we are going to prosecute him. That is why we are liaising with Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) and other relevant agencies to prosecute the offenders. This is damaging public property. This is vandalism.”

Warning other developers, the Development Control boss said: “This is an opportunity for me to warn other developers that we will not accept this from any developer.

“We will resist any attempt by any developer to use a pedestrian walkway to drill a borehole. You have your property and you must obtain approval before you can drill borehole wherever it is going to be.”

He added: “A concerned citizen drew our attention to it. We will not allow this. We will continue to monitor developments in Abuja, even during weekends.”

The Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Brig-Gen. Fadah has warned corps members deployed to Katsina State against seeking white-collar jobs which he said are no longer readily available in the labour market.

Fada, who gave the warning at the swearing-in ceremony of the 2022 Batch B Stream 1 Corps members, further urged them to avail themselves of self-employment opportunities after service which they can easily acquire through skills acquisition and entrepreneurship development programmes that were organised in the orientation camps.

He said: “You are expected to choose from any of the skill areas and make yourself available for the training which starts from the orientation camps”

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“On our part, the management will continue to work with relevant stakeholders for the success of the programme.”

The NYSC boss also warned the corps members to adhere strictly to established safety measures, including social distancing, wearing of face masks and the use of hand washing facilities that were provided at strategic locations at the orientation camps.

The Corps members were also advised to avail themselves of existing COVID-19 vaccinations in the camp if they have not done so.

Brig. Gen. Fada also reminded the corps members of one of the major objectives that led to the establishment of the programme which is national unity and integration; a policy he said will offer them opportunities for a broader understanding of the country entrenched in the culture of working together, harmony and great vision of a prosperous country.

Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal has reinstated his former Chief of Staff, Alhaji Mukhtar Magori and nominated nine commissioners whose names have been sent to the State House of Assembly for screening and confirmation.

There were vacancies after the voluntary resignation of the Chief of Staff and other members of the cabinet on April 27, to seek political offices in the state.

A statement by the Special Adviser Media and Publicity to the Governor, Muhammad Bello, said six of the nominated commissioners were reappointed to fill the vacancies.

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Some of the reappointed commissioners are those who voluntarily withdrew from the Senatorial race of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in their various constituencies.

Others are those who replaced the erstwhile commissioners who clinched the tickets to contest for the senatorial seats.

Bello said the reappointed commissioners included Aminu Bodinga, retired Col. Garba Moyi, Bashir Gidado, Salihu Maidaji, Abdullahi Maigwandu and Abubakar Maikudi.

“Abdullahi Hausawa, the state PDP Public Relations Officer (PRO), Abubakar Dange and Bashir Lambara, were also nominated to fill the existing vacancies,” he said.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Plateau State Caleb Mutfwang yesterday has picked a former member of the Plateau State House of Assembly and Chairman, Riyom Local Government Area, Josephine Piyo as his running-mate.

Mutfwang stated that he had to demonstrate his capacity for leadership by taking a very tough decision regarding the choice of a deputy governorship candidate for the party.

He, however, added that he had many qualified men and women to choose from, stressing that it was a difficult one since it can only be one person.

The governorship candidate further said that in making the decision, he made far-reaching consultations with leaders of the party, stakeholders, and various caucuses before choosing his running-mate in order to enhance the joint ticket going into the general elections.

Mutfwang said: “It is pertinent to mention that since my election, I have taken the responsibility of providing leadership seriously.

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“I have begun by talking with my fellow contestants. I am very grateful for their sportsmanship and solidarity thus far.

“The discharge permits show the unflinching support I have enjoyed from the leadership of our party across the state, elders, stakeholders, and supporters since I emerged as our governorship candidate.

“Recall that, in the course of my campaigns before the party primaries, I made a commitment to giving a voice to the voiceless.

“I make bold to say that a critical segment of our society that is often neglected in leadership considerations is the women folk. Yet, they form a formidable percentage of our population. For me, giving them a voice is a compelling necessity.

“I, therefore, have the honour and privilege of introducing to members of our party and people of Plateau State, a respected Plateau woman, mother, grandmother, daughter of Barkin Ladi, wife of the people of Riyom.

“She was trained as a health care worker and served as a public administrator before becoming a politician. Mrs Josephine Chundung Piyo is my running mate.”

Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board (KADSUBEB) has disbursed N183,000 to  2,121 schools to enable them to undertake minor repairs from the N400 million that the Universal Basic Education Commission(UBEC) gave to the state government.

At the ceremony where cheques were disbursed to benefiting schools, the Executive Chairman of KADSUBEB, Malam Tijjani Abdullahi said the fund is part of the Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) programme.

The Executive Chairman who advised School-based Management Committees (SBMCs) to utilise them prudently, said the Federal Ministry of Education and UBEC selected the benefitting schools after conducting a survey last year.

“Sometimes last year, they did a survey of our schools and it has been confirmed that we have functional School-based Management Committees. So, based on that, they allocated about N400 million to schools that need assistance.

“As of today, I signed payment to all the schools, totalling N388, 155, 726 million.  So, each school will receive N183, 000. We expect that the SBMCs will utilise this money and undertake minor repairs in schools,” he added.

The Executive Chairman recalled that BESDA was conceived by the Federal Government in order to return the over 10.3 million out-of-school children, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) statistics, back to school.

“The World Bank gave 17 states a grant of $611 million and Kaduna State is one of the states. The states were selected based on out-of-school children’s data. The programme started in 2019, and will end in October,” he said.

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According to Malam Tijjani, Kaduna State has been benefitting from the grant, adding that it initially ‘’received advances from UBEC and we started sensitisation, community mobilization to get children registered in schools. Subsequently, based on our performance, UBEC released money to us and Kaduna state got a total of about $20 million.”

The Executive Chairman said Kaduna State Government has been providing uniforms, materials, textbooks, exercise books, school bags and school sandals for pupils.

He further said that “in addition to this grant, we provide them tablets to register attendance. There is an application that will be loaded on the tablet.  And we will be able to monitor school attendance. The tablets will be delivered to the schools in the next two to three weeks.”

The Executive Chairman of KADSUBEB thanked the Federal Government for initiating the BESDA programme, including the Federal Ministry of Education and UBEC for implementing it.

Also, a female senatorial aspirant for Kaduna South Senatorial District on the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Tinok Andrew Nok has said there was no primary for the position she was contesting. She alleged that she was disenfranchised as a woman even after purchasing the form as the sole aspirant.

In a chat with reporters in Kaduna yesterday, she alleged that the date initially slated for her affirmation was shifted without prior notice only for another person’s name to be presented from nowhere.

She said: “I am deeply sad that I had to draw the attention of the national leadership of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) and the general public on the recently-concluded primaries election that took place on June 5, 2022, in Kafanchan Kaduna State.

She argued that “Southern Kaduna was on the verge of making a sophisticated political statement as well as demonetise politics, include women and youths in government and entrust leadership to the common man.”

Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule said yesterday that the recent appointment of Permanent Secretaries was strictly guided by merit, availability and inclusiveness.

Sule stated this while presiding over the monthly state executive council meeting in Lafia.

He said: “The appointment of permanent secretaries is similar to that of other political appointees such as commissioners, which informed that every local government area of the state is covered.

“The appointment of permanent secretaries is strictly guided by merit, availability and inclusiveness.

“My administration will continue to be anchored on justice, equity, transparency, accountability and rule of law,” he said

The governor said his administration took cognisance of the fact that Kokona, Keffi and Nasarawa local government areas didn’t have any serving permanent secretaries.

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He, therefore, said two new permanent secretaries were appointed from Nasarawa Local Government Area “because it is the largest council with two development areas.

”The administration also considered the outcome of the examination for the appointment of the permanent secretaries.”

Sule also commiserated with the people of Ekye Development Area on recent insecurity that led to the death of two persons.

He assured that the deputy governor, Dr Emmanuel Akabe and the Special Adviser on Security, would convene a meeting within the week in order to address the issue.

“We don’t take issues of security with laxity; so we must be able to do everything we can and ensure that our people are secured.

“I strongly believe that by the end of the meeting, we will be able to arrive clearly at what to do,” he said.

Continuing, the governor said: “As part of the efforts to boost security across the state, my administration bought vehicles for some security agencies operating in the state.

”More vehicles have been purchased for more security agencies to enable them to have adequate tools to protect the people.”

The Northeast Development Commission (NEDC) has donated 20,000 cartons of assorted drugs and medical consumables to the Bauchi State Government. The gesture was aimed at preventing the spread of cholera in the state.

At the flag-off/graduation ceremony of 200 ICT Batch trainees in Bauchi, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Commission Mohammed Alkali said the drugs and consumables will bridge the gap in the state’s cholera outbreak response to curb mortality and spread of the disease.

“There is also a need to focus more on long-term prevention measures such as ensuring clean water and hygiene measures for communities to prevent widespread future outbreaks,” he said.

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Also, the NEDC has launched a programme for the promotion of peace, inter-religious dialogue, and deradicalisation for peaceful co-existence in the North, in collaboration with Sunnah Global Media.

Alkali said the Commission is scaling up an awareness campaign on religious extremism and ways to recognise signs of extremism.

“We will make use of radio which is good for our local people and there are other programmes which involve physical engagement where we will involve the elders, the emirs, the chiefs, and whoever that can give respite to what we are saying,” he said.

He further said that the Commission had graduated 580 youths under Batches A, B, and C of the ICT training programme in the state, adding that the Commission had established ICT resource centres in selected tertiary institutions across the six states of the zone, in line with its plan to enhance access to ICT.

The National Peace Committee (NPC) has congratulated the people of Ekiti State for their peaceful conduct during the June 18 governorship election.

A statement by the Chairman, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd) reads: “We thank the people for the turnout, despite recent increasing levels of insecurity. Your commitment to fulfilling your civic responsibilities in a peaceful and orderly manner sets an example for your compatriots in the upcoming Osun State governorship election and Nigeria as we move towards the general elections next year.

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“While the elections were not devoid of hitches, we commend the efforts of all stakeholders who have tirelessly worked either as ombudsmen or observers or participants to ensure it was conducted according to the rules. We commend the political parties and their candidates for yielding to the call for a peaceful election by respecting the provisions of the Electoral Act and cooperating with the various institutions of state saddled with their implementation.

“We also decry the vote-buying recorded during the elections, and urge the security agencies to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators in line with the provisions of the electoral law. Vote-buying undermines the values which underpin our democratic life. It reduces the privileged selection of those who steward our commonwealth through our electoral processes, as being transactional. We must hold to account all who would muddy the springs from which we, as a people, seek to drink from collectively by such actions of bribery, both the giver and receiver.

“We urge the winner, Biodun Oyebanji, to be magnanimous in victory by collaborating with the people, especially his co-contestants, in the governance process. We call on him and his political party to eschew triumphalism that may make peace-building difficult.”

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Nasarawa State David Umbugadu has announced Yahaya Usman Ohinohyi as his running mate.

Ohinohyi is a two-term former member of Nasarawa State House of Assembly representing the Umesha/Ugya State Constituency of Toto Local Government Area of the state.

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The governorship candidate said all the stakeholders were involved in the consultations that arrived at Yahaya Usman Ohinohyi from the western part of the state.

Umbugadu, who is a two-term former member of the House of Representatives, said he is in the governorship race of the state purely on his records as a member of the House of Representatives.

Accepting his nomination, the deputy governorship candidate Yahaya Usman Ohinohyi said he will support the candidate and the party to defeat the ruling party.