Category: South West

By Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

An Oyo State High Court yesterday refused and struck out an exparte motion brought by sacked local government chairmen, seeking an order to freeze the bank accounts of the Oyo State Government for its failure to implement the Supreme Court judgment, which ordered it to pay their salaries and entitlements.

The apex court on May 7 ordered the state government to pay the salaries and entitlements of the chairmen, vice chairmen and councillors in the 68 local governments and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) for illegally sacking them on May 29, 2019.

The council members were elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in May 2018.

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Governor Seyi Makinde sacked the council members hours after he was sworn in on May 29, 2019 on the grounds that the election that produced them was illegal. The latter approached the court to declare their sack illegal and the battle went to the Supreme Court. The apex court declared their sack illegal and ordered the state government to pay them the salaries and all entitlements for the remaining two years they should have spent in office.

Although the court ordered the state government to implement the judgment before September, the plaintiffs are yet to be paid.

They, therefore, filed an exparte motion at a state high court, which was heard yesterday.

By Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

The Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji, has removed the Baale of Lagelu Agboke in Ido Local Government, Chief Saheed Alatise.

A statement by the Personal Assistant and Director of Media to the Olubadan, Adeola Oloko, on Monday said Alatise has been embroiled in several crises since he was installed in 2017.

It said the sack took immediate effect.

The statement said the Olubadan-in-Council took the decision following “persistent complaints over his conduct and gross violation of Ibadan customs and traditions.”

It said the council unanimously decided and recommended his removal to the Olubadan during their meeting at the Olubadan Palace, Popoyemoja, Ibadan on Monday.

The Council noted that while the removed Baale had been accused of one allegation or the other over the past one year, his continued refusal to defend himself was an act of contumely against the Olubadan and is punishable under Ibadan Customs and Traditions.

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It reads in part: “Part of the allegations leveled against the removed Baale is that he falsely presented himself for chieftaincy installation as Baale Aboke when he is not a male child of the family.

“In a letter written by members of Lagelu Aboke family of Ibadan to Olubadan-in-Council and signed by Ganiyu Oladokun Okerinu Aboke (Family Head); Tiamiyu Lamidi Okerinu Aboke (Baale) and the secretary of the family, it was stated that Saheed Alatise who hails from Agbede Adodo, Ibadan cannot honestly represent Lagelu Aboke family of Idi-Ishin Compound, Beere, Ibadan.

“They stated further that “besides, we members of the Aboke family, Ibadan do not approve of the conduct of Saheed Alatise as his conduct as Baale runs contrary to the counsels often given to chiefs before their installation as Baale.”

The Ogun State government has been given a pat on the back for maximal utilisation of the mechanised advantage under the Federal Government’s Value-Chain Development Programme Additional Funding (VCDP-AF).

The step, according to members of the 9th Joint FGN/IFAD team has been helping to increase rice and cassava production, enhance industrialisation, create employment opportunities for youths and smallholder farmers, as well as link them to markets.

The team made this submission during a supervision mission to the State to assess some farms, processing centres and markets in Obafemi-Owode and Odeda out of the eight implementing local government areas.

Speaking, the team leader, Madam Mariatu Kamara expressed satisfaction at the number of youths and local farmers that had been trained and empowered with modern inputs through the agricultural intervention programmes.

“Our mission is to review progress, look at implementation challenges and discuss with government on how to improve and strengthen the support. Ogun State has recorded tremendous achievement and will be beneficial to the community and the State’s economy,” she remarked.

Addressing the beneficiaries, VCDP National Coordinator, Alhaji Garba Bala commended the youths and encouraged them to influence others to also benefit from the programme.

Welcoming the team earlier, Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr. Adeola Odedina, lauded the Federal Government and IFAD for their support towards job creation, food security, industrialisation and mechanisation of smallholder farmers with private sector participation.

“We are doing something very extra-ordinary because we are clinging into what has been approved by VCDP which tallies with our agricultural agenda and we cannot afford to joke with it. Our youths have been trained to produce high variety of rice and cassava and promote value-chain activities,” he said.

Other local government areas where VCDP operates in the State are, Ijebu North-East, Ijebu East, Ifo, Yewa North, Yewa South and Odogbolu

By Yetunde Oladeinde

NIGERIAN youths have been advised to stay away from drugs and focus on hardwork, determination and perseverance to make a head way despite the myriad challenges in the society. According to the Initiator of United Breeds Foundation, Anthony Abakporo who organised an awareness campaign with the theme, Walk against hard drugs and harmful vices to sensitise parents and the public on the drug pandemic ravaging the youths across the country and the need to curb the menace of drug peddlers and their cohorts.

“This is something that is affecting many and that is why we have invited parent to come and lend their voice to this so that we can curb the menace. We have some people in different sectors that includes the chairman of Amuwo Odofin  represented her by his chief of staff, Hon. Idris Abubakar, Mr Onyema Onyenakeya of the Justice Development and Peace (JDPC) arm of the Catholic church  and some of our celebrities who share our passion  and they have been lending their voices to the campaign. The sad part is that hard drugs are also linked to cultism.

Abakporo adds that the drug menace cases reveal that children in primary schools now use hard drugs.” We are trying to penetrate the schools through the PTA and parents to sensitise them against this looming danger.

Parents need to be close to their kids, check their phones always and monitor them strictly to ensure they are not into drugs or in a cult”

The foundation has helped to rehabilitate a number of young people, given them new skills and opportunities to get back on track. “We do not criticize and so we are a harm reduction organisation. We accept everyone and we bring them in for rehabilitation. What we do actually depends on the case and we have an everyday meeting with them to make the process easier and better. Some cases cannot be handled here and so we work with partners and they may have to commence treatments at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Yaba. However, Yaba doesn’t have space to take in these people sometimes and it has become worse during this pandemic as drug use has spiked astronomically”.

He added: “It takes time and that is why we made sure that everyone in our leadership are people who have been through this experience. Our long term goal is to have something like Silicon Valley, a commercial hub to   allow them to make use of their talents.

Chairperson of Amuwo-Odofin local council, Valentine Oluwaseun Buraimoh, who was represented by his Chief of staff promised to support the foundation and advised that all hands must be on deck to curb the menace that has reached alarming rates.

By Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

No fewer than 7,878 persons in Kwara state will benefit from the fadama Nigeria Covid-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (N-CARES) programme.

As a result, the state government has released fund for screening, validating and selecting of the phase one beneficiaries of the programme

The fund will also be used for the preparation of Community Action Recovery Plans (CARPs) for the  community farmers’ associations in the local government areas concerned, it was gathered.

Project Coordinator of Fadama NG-CARES in the state,  Engr. Dr. Busari Isiaka has said, adding that the project had made tremendous progress through the commitment of Governor AbdulRaman Abdulrazaq.

Isiaka hinted that the earlier fund released by the governor was used to carry out project preparatory activities, which included sensitisation of stakeholders across the sixteen LGAs through visit, press releases, and radio jingles in five languages.

“The platform also used the fund to carry out Preliminary Participatory Rural Appraisal (PPRA), train Community Facilitators on the preparation of CARPs, hold a pre-bid conference for Service Providers on community-based procurement, repair two (2 Nos) decrepit Hilux Vehicles, overhaul 1 No 30 KVA Diesel Generator, rehabilitate three (3 Nos) blocks of office accommodation and maintain office runnings and operations”, he explained.

He assured the governor and the people of the state of judicious use of the fund.

He added that the governor’s action is an attestation of his readiness to cushion the effects of COVID-19 on the people.

He declared that the Fadama NG-CARES project is an agricultural intervention meant to give stimulus to the target people.

He added that “for this and the earlier funds released for the preparatory activities; screening, validation, and selection of the first phase of potential beneficiaries; and preparation of CARPs, kudos to the governor.

The Ijede Local Council Development Area yesterday celebrated the National Independence day anniversary with pupils from primary and secondary schools in the council area.

The pupils who had a parade to commemorate the occasion were presented with school uniforms and exercise Books by the council Chairman,Mrs. Motunrayo Gbadebo Alogba.

Speaking at the occasion, the Council boss said the local government decided to celebrate the anniversary despite the series of challenges the nation is presently faced with. One cannot deny the fact that Nigeria is blessed with vibrant, intelligent and hardworking citizens. She expressed her hope that with God on our side the nation will overcome these challenges and emerge a stronger and more formidable nation.

Alogba said the Local Government decided to use the occasion of the anniversary to kit the primary school pupils with new uniforms and also distribute educational materials because education is one sure way of equipping the youths to take over the leadership in the nation aside from the values of integrity that must be inculcated in them.

By Yinka Adeniran, Ibadan

At least 42,000 smallholder farmers in various communities have benefited from mechanised farming, improved seedlings, fertilisers and drone technology in cassava, rice and maize farming.

This is as an appeal has gone to the government and other investors to support mechanized farming to make the sector very lucrative and rewarding for both the farmers and investors.

The Managing Director, Agridrive, Mr George Marechera made the disclosures in Ibadan, while speaking on the turnaround in the Nigerian agricultural sector in the last 10 years and disruption brought by COVID-19 pandemic.

Marechera noted that his company has partnered with various states government in Nigeria, to address the challenges facing smallholder farmers, who constitute a larger percentage in food production.

He noted that before the mechanisation intervention to smallholder farmers, the maximum yield of cassava per hectare in Nigeria was five tonnes but now farmers produce up to 25 tonnes.

He said the value chain had also been positively affected as more employment has been created along the value chains such as transportation, logistics and processing.

Marechera stated that the intervention first initiated by African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), a-not-for-profit organisation was then turned into a sustainable agricultural entrepreneurship venture by the establishment of Agridrive and is being implemented in Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia and Tanzania.

The agric expert noted that the intervention by AATF had reduced the length of time for cassava production and with technology solutions from Agricdrive through the provision of services and offtakers, cassava farmers are now more productive.

He said it had led to the promotion of agriculture sustainability which would address the challenges of food insecurity as the population of Nigeria grows astronomically as projected towards 2050 and climate change.

He noted that the intervention by Agridrive also led to ensuring that smallholder farmers who needed land for farming got land from the state government.

By Gboyega Alaka

“Knowledge and talent are not for the rich and privileged alone, and free education widens the gates of opportunities to every child, especially those whose talents are arrested by poverty.”

These were the words of the Executive Chairman of Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos, Hon. Moyosore Ogunlewe, as he presented free General Certificate Examination (GCE) forms to 150 indigent students in the local government.

Ogunlewe, who said the gesture is in line with Lagos State governor, Babajide Olushola Sanwo-Olu’s THEMES agenda to improve the learning outcomes of students in public schools, noted that it is “when people are more educated that they can solve problems better and society can progress at a faster rate, also encouraged beneficiaries to put in necessary effort to get the best result in the exam.

As an additional measure towards ensuring the success of the beneficiaries, Ogunlewe said the students will be tutored in the various subjects.

Kosofe LGA H.O.D. Education,  Mrs. Olamide Whenu, also charged the lucky pupils to be committed and make the best use of the opportunity.

By Toba Adedeji, Osogbo

No fewer than 300 Nigeria youth has been empowered by a non-profit organization, Shuttershot in photography training to be self-reliant.

The leader of the programme organizer, Special Assistant on Documentation to Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Oluwadamilare Fawole speaking during the training exercise in Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Osun State yesterday disclosed that 300 youths across all the six geo-political zones in the country are beneficiaries. We gave cameras, lenses, hard drives to the outstanding participants.

“I urge the government to incorporate photography course to educational curriculum from the primary school to promoting skills and encourage self-employment among the youths.”

The Minister in his remark during a free photography training tagged Beyond Light lamented that youth unemployment is a national concern.

Arc Adegbite who was represented by his SSA, Mr Olusegun Adedayo said, “new partnerships and approaches can help us in turning the tide of unemployment. With youth unemployment numbers growing annually, it is paramount to seek out new avenues to grow youth capacity to become self-sufficient; explore and invest in new ventures, as well as take advantage of the opportunities that the fields like media have created.