Niger Governor Abubakar Sani Bello has won the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial ticket for Niger North.

At the primary, which held in Kontagora, the Governor got 335 votes while the incumbent, Senator Sabi Abdullahi got seven votes.

Senator Sani Musa won the ticket to return to the Red Chamber in Niger East.

Read Also: Gov. Lalong clinches Plateau APC senate ticket

Musa polled 492 votes to beat Dr Dada Nakowa who got two votes.

Counting is ongoing at the Niger South primary though unofficial sources hinted the incumbent Senator Bima Enagi is leading.

The Kebbi State Government under the  leadership of Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, yesterday, joined the rest of the world in celebrating Children’s Day .

The governor has re-emphasised that children must be given the major requisite for normal development through sound education, quality healthcare, good feeding.

Bagudu also said the child must be put in a position to earn a livelihood and must be protected against every form of exploitation.

“It is one of the cardinal principles of  the Bagudu administration  that  children in the state deserve the best and a safe environment  where they can grow, interact with friends and emerge as successful leaders in different fields of endeavour.”

“Kebbi State Government has invested enormous resources in improving the education sector by constructing new schools, provision of learning materials, feeding and affordable health care, particularly to children.”

This is in order to ensure healthy living and growth.

Staff and residents of Federal Government Girls College, Bwari on Friday took to the street to protest exorbitant estimated electricity bill.

The protesters, who hit the street in protest the moment Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) officials came to disconnect their light, insisted that the officials should also remove their meter which they alleged was an industrial meter.

They described the exorbitant estimated tariffs they are forced to pay monthly by the AEDC as ‘criminal and injustice’ while demanding that prepaid meters be made available to them immediately.

Speaking on behalf of the protesting staff and residents, the Union Chairman of Federal Government Girls College, Bwari, Ajiloye Samuel, lamented that despite the fact that each of the residents are forced to pay 6,000-7,000 naira monthly which amounts to 300,000 in total; the AEDC still insists they have an outstanding bill of 5 million naira.

Ajiloye further noted that the school and residents have resolved to intensify their agitation until all the illegalities of the AEDC are addressed.

According to him, “We are agitating for the light bill which the AEDC is giving us the residents and staff; the bill is too much for us and we are saying that we cannot pay the bills again because its too high.

“They’re giving us industrial bills from an industrial meter whereas we are not manufacturing anything in school. We are all residents like any other customer in the town…

“From 2019, we have been servicing industrial meter and each year we pay 6000 naira and at the end, they’ll be bringing bill of 700,000-800,000 naira for about 52 houses. This is after all of us have paid 6000 naira amounting to over 300,000 and our bill is accumulating.

Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya yesterday warned against indiscriminate dumping of refuse and blocking of water ways in Gombe metropolis as the rain approaches.

The Governor, who stated this while on inspection tour of the ongoing gully erosion control and roads projects in the state capital, warned those removing soil from drainage lines to desist.

He said the menace of the removal of soil along drainage lines by surface water runoff has been one of the serious environmental problems affecting the state capital, as it causes destruction of properties worth millions of Naira and disruption of businesses.

The governor explained that there are more than 200 active gullies across Gombe State and most of them are within the vicinity of the state capital.

“You’ll recall that we had already executed the Gombe State University-Malam Inna Erosion Control Works in collaboration with the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project, NEWMAP, with a view to addressing severe Gully Erosion problems in the short term, reduce vulnerability to soil erosion and climate variability in the medium term, such as our aforestation programme,  the Gombe Goes Green Project,” he said.

He promised to continue to work in collaboration with other development partners to address the problem of gully erosion in the state.

“We shall continue to work in collaboration with World Bank and Federal Ministry of Environment to address the problem of gully erosion and other related problems in Gombe State.

“People should avoid building houses or erecting structures on waterways and also stop the attitude of dumping refuse in the drainages. This obstructs free flow of water which may result into catastrophic flooding”, he warned.

The governor promised to construct a linking road parallel to the gully erosion site to ease movement of goods and services in the area.

The governor also inspected the ongoing 4.5km Idi-Unguwa-Uku-Malam-Inna-Kagarawal Road initiated by his administration which has reached a considerable level of completion.

Speaking at the road site, Governor Inuwa expressed satisfaction at the speed and quality of the project.

Three communities along Abuja-Kaduna highway, namely Akilibu, Rijana and Katari,  have appealed to Gov Nasir El-rufai not to relocate or clear their settlements.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports on May 19, El-Rufai had proposed the clearance and relocation of the communities, saying that they harboured criminals and informants.

Chairman of the communities, Magaji Danjuma-Katari,  made the appeal at a news conference on Friday in Kaduna.

“To the best of our knowledge, our communities are not aware of the involvement of any of our members, either directly or indirectly, in any verifiable cases of banditry within and outside our communities.

“Thus the bogus allegation that we are collaborators of banditry is largely ruse, trivial and unfounded.

“Contrary to the induced negative narratives from questionable sources and one-sided news vendors, the inhabitants of these communities have on several occasions been on the receiving end of banditry,” he said.

He explained that there was a major cattle route that emanated from the core North and traverses or crosses the Abuja – Kaduna highway at a spot near Katari which made it convenient for bandit attacks.

He urged government to engage  relevant government agencies and critical stakeholders in the communities, to foster a workable synergy in the fight against banditry in the area.

Danjuma-Katari also urged government to discreetly verify and crosscheck all security reports relating to the communities, to ensure that they are not products of mere guess work.

He stated that any member of the communities identified as a collaborator of banditry should be dealt with in accordance with the dictates of the law.

He recommended that the government “Recruit more members of our youths into the security forces” and “Upgrade the educational status of the communities; in addition providing for another Police Division to accommodate cases from Chikun LGA.

Ahmed Ahmadu Mu’azu, son of ex-Bauchi State governor, Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu has alleged that he was denied participation in the recently held People’s Democratic Party’s gubernatorial primary, likewise the screening of aspirants.

The Nation reports that a former Secretary to the Bauchi State Government, Barr. Ibrahim Kashim has secured the party’s ticket in the state.

He was declared unopposed as the lone aspirant of the party.

Our correspondent also reported that a former senator representing Bauchi North Senatorial Zone, Nazif Sulaiman Gamawa and a son of Adamu Muazu, former Bauchi governor, Ahmed Ahmadu Mu’azu, did not participate in the screening and primaries for reasons yet to be ascertained.

However, speaking in Bauchi, the state capital, the Director-General of the Campaign Organization team of  Mu’azu junior, Dr.Kabiru  Garba Allah, while fielding questions from reporters in Bauchi, said they had already written a petition to the National  Working Committee of the party, with an appeal filed before the appeal committee over his non-inclusion.

Dr. Kabiru further said that “if Bauchi governor, Bala Mohammed participates in the presidential primary election and loses, and comes back to claim the state PDP Gubernatorial ticket, then we have more reason to believe that we were denied participation in the screening and primary election deliberately because of him.”

When contacted, the state Publicity Secretary of the PDP,  Yayanuwa Zainabari, said he is not aware that Ahmed junior is contesting for any seat, adding that the party only knows of Kashim as the only aspirant who purchased the PDP governorship nomination and expression of interest forms.

The Kogi State Primary Health Care Development Agency (KSPHCDA) has commenced the disbursement of funds to 220 selected and verified primary health care centres across 21 local government areas of the state.

This is contained in a statement by the Executive Director of KSPHCDA Dr Abubakar Yakubu in Lokoja yesterday.

According to Yakubu, Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) is a Federal Government health intervention geared toward ensuring Direct Facility Funding (DFF) to the selected and verified primary health care centres.

He said this was to help in revitalising primary health care delivery in the country.

Yakubu explained that the funds were sent directly from a pool to the health facilities, to support ensuring minor facelifts, recruitment of ad hoc staff, and purchase of drugs and other required commodities, among others.

Read Also; Senior citizens applaud Buhari for signing health insurance bill

He further said that 220 facilities would receive N132, 330,000 as Direct Facility Funding (DFF) for the second and third quarter’s disbursement for this year.

“The agency appreciates Governor Yahaya Bello for playing a significant role in ensuring that the state was qualified to be selected to benefit from this intervention.

“Governor Bello had ensured that funds were released for the baseline assessment, state training of trainers; cascade training at the local government and verification exercise.

“In addition, he approved the counterpart funds for the intervention to be possible,” he said.

He added that the state had constituted robust supervision, monitoring and evaluation team, which would move into action immediately to monitor the utilisation of the funds by the benefitting facilities.

“We hope that the selected health facilities will utilise the resources according to the approved quarterly business plans and, by extension, the annual quality improvement plans,” Yakubu said.

He appreciated the teams from the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), the Kogi team members and development partners for their support throughout the processes.

Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has described the death of Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) Don Awunah as a huge loss to the state.

The governor stated this yesterday when he led top government officials to pay condolence to the family at their New GRA Makurdi residence.

He advised them to be comforted and have faith in God as everything happens according to His will.

The governor lamented that even though the death of the top police officer pained him because he had so much assistance to render to his community and country, no one can question God on why He allowed his death at this time.

Governor Ortom who said the death of the top police officer who had excelled in his career, was painful to his family, friends and colleagues, however, enjoined them to ensure that the legacies he left behind were maintained.

Read Also: AIG Don Awunah dies after brief illness

He assured that as a close friend and Benue son, he would maintain close ties with the family and continue to support them.

He directed his Chief of Staff Dr Tivlumun Nyitse to liaise with the family and furnish him with the financial involvement concerning his burial so that he and others can assist them to give him a befitting burial.

The first son of the deceased, Donald Kumachivir Awunah expressed appreciation to Governor Ortom for his words of encouragement, prayers and financial support and prayed to God to continue to bless him.

The governor was accompanied on the condolence visit by the Chief of Staff Dr Tivlumun Nyitse, Principal Private Secretary, Steven Amase Principal Special Assistant to the Governor on Administration, Dr James Anbua and Abrahams Kwaghngu, among others.

All final year secondary school students in Zamfara State will sit for the 2022 senior school certificate examinations conducted by the National Examinations Council (NECO) and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).

The State Deputy Governor, Hassan Nasiha made this known in a chat with reporters in Gusau yesterday.

He said the state government had paid the NECO registration fees of all students in public schools to enable them to write the examination.

Read Also: Niger owes WAEC N295m 2021 exam fees

Nasiha said headteachers of the various schools and officials of the state Ministry of Education were capturing the data of students for the June/July 2022 NECO.

The deputy governor also said arrangement for the payment of the examination fees and negotiations on how the students will write the 2022 WAEC was ongoing.

Nasiha said the consultation with WAEC was to see if supplementary arrangements could be made for the students.

He explained that the students were denied registration by WAEC because of some outstanding debts owed it by the state government.

The deputy governor assured that the government would settle all the outstanding debts to the examination bodies in due course.