The Nation Newspaper

Category: Uncategorized

  • Niger signs MoU on Minna Five-Star hotel

    The Niger State Government will build Nigeria’s first Five-Star hotel in Minna, the state capital.

    The project is coming on stream four years after the government committed N500million to it.

    The 305-bedroom hotel will be executed through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement for the Design, Build, Operate and Transfer (D.B.O.T) at a concessionary cost of N19.6billion.

    The government and private developers yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the project.

    The Commissioner for Investment, Commerce and Cooperatives, Alhaji Yahaya Dansalau, signed on behalf of the government.

    He said the hotel would be constructed within 24 months and managed by the developer for a maximum period of 25 years before handing it over to the state.

    The commissioner said the government may take possession of the hotel as soon as the developer is able to recoup his investment.

    The Niger State Government will build Nigeria’s first Five-Star hotel in Minna, the state capital.

    The project is coming on stream four years after the government committed N500million to it.

    The 305-bedroom hotel will be executed through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement for the Design, Build, Operate and Transfer (D.B.O.T) at a concessionary cost of N19.6billion.

    The government and private developers yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the project.

    The Commissioner for Investment, Commerce and Cooperatives, Alhaji Yahaya Dansalau, signed on behalf of the government.

    He said the hotel would be constructed within 24 months and managed by the developer for a maximum period of 25 years before handing it over to the state.

    The commissioner said the government may take possession of the hotel as soon as the developer is able to recoup his investment.

  • EFCC to re-arraign Doma, six others

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) may re-arraign ex-Nasarawa State Governor Aliyu Akwe Doma and six others on November 9 for alleged N15billion fraud.

    A statement by the Head of Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, said the re-arraignment followed the transfer of the former judge, Justice Marcel Awokulehin.

    The statement said: “Justice Agatha Anulika Okeke of the Federal High Court sitting in Lafia, Nasarawa State has fixed November 19 for the arraignment of former Governor Aliyu Akwe Doma and six others being prosecuted by the EFCC on a 17-count criminal charge of laundering state funds totaling over N15 billion.

    “Others accused persons tried alongside Doma, who was arraigned on October 18, 2011, are Senator John Dangoyi, Abdulmumin Jibrin, Timothy Anthony Anjide, Dauda Egwa, Suleiman Ibrahim, Broworks Limited and Green Forest Investment Limited.

    “This arraignment followed the recent transfer of Federal High Court judges which affected former trial judge, Justice Marcel Awokulehin.

    ”At the resumed hearing of the case yesterday, Justice Okeke announced that the case will start Denovo ,which is usually the case for any criminal matter starting before a new judge.

    ”But before adjourning proceedings, one of the defence counsel, S.I. Ameh, SAN, challenged the representation of the duo of Barristers Sesan Ola and John Ovie from the chambers of Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, as prosecution counsel.

    He argued that the Attorney General of the Federation’s fiat in respect of the case was issued to Kemi Pinheiro in person and therefore not transferable.

    “Ola, however, countered, as he argued that the fiat issued to Kemi Pinheiro’s chamber covers any lawyer from the chamber until the final determination of the case.

    The judge, while adjourning the case, urged the prosecution counsel to produce the fiat as evidence of the document as issued by the Attorney-General of the Federation.”

  • eksu FILE

    Reparation fee reduced.

    The Ekiti State University (EKSU) has reviewed downward the reparation fee to be paid by students following the destruction of properties in the institution recently.

    The new fee is N6,500 instead of the N10,500 earlier announced.

    A statement by EKSU Deputy Registrar, Information and Public Relations, Ajibade Olubunmi, pre-degree students and those on Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) for the second semester of 2011/2012 are excluded from the payment.

    Payments are to be made to designated banks nationwide as earlier announced in the dailies. Students are equally advised to comply with this directive and keep away from the university premises until further notice.

    The Senate of the university will meet to decide the resumption date. The deadline for the payment is tomorrow.

     

  • Flood victims won’t go home empty-handed, says Uduaghan

    Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan yesterday assured flood victims that they would not go home empty-handed when the water recedes.

    He gave the assurance when he visited the camp at Oharisi Primary School in Ughelli North Local Government Area.

    Explaining that life must continue after the camp, Uduaghan said the victims would be given some money, no matter how small.

    While hosting members of the Southsouth Traditional Rulers’ Forum, led by the Chairman, Dr. Edmond Dakuro, in his office in Asaba, the state capital, on Tuesday, Uduaghan said 630 primary and secondary schools were submerged.

    Lamenting the damage done by the floods, Uduaghan said: “It has not been easy taking care of the victims. The state lost 450 primary schools and 180 secondary schools to the floods. They have all been submerged.”

    He thanked the Federal Government for approving N500 million for the care of the victims and said the state government had set up a committee to manage the funds.

    The governor thanked the traditional rulers for their role in maintaining peace and security and urged them to sustain the effort.

    Dakuro said the purpose of their visit was to partner the government in tightening security and to find out how the problems caused by the floods were being managed.

    Also on Tuesday, the governor ordered a government official to refund money he collected for the management of Illah rehabilitation camp.

    Uduaghan gave the order at the Government House, Asaba, during a “Flood Situation Review” meeting with political office holders.

    He directed the Commissioner for Special Duties, Dr. Tony Nwaka, to enforce the order.

    Uduaghan said the official, who was deployed in the camp from the Bureau for Special Duties, should be removed from the camp immediately.

    “I am surprised that the man was allowed to remain in that camp for so long,” he added.

    The governor decried the mismanagement of funds meant for the management of relief camps.

    He said: “Any official misappropriating camp money, flood will run in the person’s stomach. If you enrich yourself at the expense of the victims, you will regret it.

    “It is inhuman for anyone to deprive the victims of food. People doing this will reap the reward. If it does not affect you now, it will do someday.

    “You cannot short-change the flood victims to make money for yourself. Such money will never be useful to you. Henceforth, I will be announcing the figures allocated to each of the 24 camps openly at our meetings.”

  • Kogi SSG seeks emergency intervention in education

    Kogi SSG seeks emergency intervention in education

    Unless the Federal Government declares a state of emergency in the education sector and completely re-drafts, from the scratch, its national policies on education, its dream of being among the top 20 economies by the year 2020 may not be realistic.

    According to the Secretary to Kogi State Government (SSG) Prof Olugbemiro Jegede, who made this observation in Abuja while speaking at the 25th anniversary of the Galilee International Management Institute, Israel, re-building the educational system in the country is the key to driving national development.

    While urging the Federal Government to prioritise capacity building in science, engineering and technology, the former Vice-Chancellor, National Open University, stated that the goals of the 21st century could not be achieved without a sound education.

    Jegede said the Federal Government must focus on capacity building at the higher education level to produce critical mass and employable graduates.

    He cautioned that the failure of the government to educate the mass of illiterate people across the country would be a catastrophe for the country lamenting that Nigeria, with all its quality policy documents has failed over the years to target the right kind of people to build critical mass in the country.

    Prof Jegede, who carpeted the Federal Government over its approach to the Vision 20:2020, argued that the government has no clear cut ways of getting to the vision noting that other countries which Nigeria aspire to beat or join in the league keep progressing while Nigeria contends with mediocrity.

    He maintained that except the Federal Government takes drastic steps in addressing the dearth of lecturers and researchers across the nation’s tertiary institutions, 1.5 million lecturers and researchers would be needed in that level of education by the year 2015.

    This was as he added that a total of 750,000 teachers would be needed in the secondary school level in the year 2015 noting that Nigeria has thrown quality into the dustbin and now celebrates mediocrity.

    While prasing the Israeli institute for its capacity building role in Nigeria over the years, he said Nigeria should be in creative partnership with Israel in many sectors such as agriculture, military, security, education and tourism.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Speaking earlier at the event, the President of Galilee International Management Institute, Dr. Joseph Shevel urged Nigerian government to emulate Israel by focusing on education and capacity building.

    He remarked that while Israel has succeeded in reducing illiteracy, Nigeria still has a huge population illiterate to contend with giving kudos to the Israeli first Prime Minister who according to him made education compulsory for every child in the country.

  • Tears as Ogun gives N7.5m to families of slain policemen

    It was a tearful event yesterday when the Ogun State Government presented N7.5 million to the families of the five policemen, who were killed by robbers on Sunday and Monday.

    Their widows were given N500,000 each to bury their husbands.

    A million naira is to be given to each of the slain policemen’s next of kin through the Police Command.

    The deceased are Inspectors Christopher Ugwu, Istfanus Day and Josiah Ehodah; Corporal Nwachukwu Udoka and Sergeant James Adejor.

    The government described them as “courageous men and heroes”.

    A 15-man robbery gang killed two of the policemen in Ibafo on Sunday and the three others in Abeokuta, the state capital, around 2:30am on Monday. Some others were injured.

    The widows of the slain policemen, Mrs. Chinyere Ugwu, Mrs Ene Ehoda, Grace Adejor and two others were accompanied to the Governor’s Office by the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikemefuna Okoye; Mr. Mohammed Abdulkadir and O/C Mopol, Mr. Baba Audu.

    Mrs. Ugwu, who was there with her 16-month old daughter, Asumpta, broke into tears when she received the money from the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Taiwo Adeoluwa.

    She has four children.

    Adeoluwa described the killings as “unfortunate and regrettable”. He assured the bereaved families that the government would stand by them.

    He said the policemen’s death would not dampen the resolve of the Governor Ibikunle Amosun administration and the police to secure the lives and property of residents.

    Adeoluwa said: “The government and people of Ogun State salute the bravery of these gallant officers, even in death. We remain grateful and indebted to them and to the Police Command. At this point in time, our thoughts and prayers are with the widows, children and the immediate families of these fallen heroes.

    “We will not be discouraged. The police have been directed to bring the perpetrators of these dastardly killings to justice. They have assured the government that they have become more determined to ensure security in Ogun.

    “To the families of our fallen compatriots, we share your pain. There is nothing we can do to bring back the dead. We pray that God will accept their brave souls in His bosom. Be sure that our prayers are with you in this difficult time. The Great Comforter, our Lord Almighty, the creator of all and the owner of life will strengthen and uphold you all.

    “As a Government, we deem it fit to support the families as they prepare for the burial of their loved ones. Mr. Governor has approved the payment of N2,500,000 million cash to the five families to assist in the burial of our slain heroes. After the burial, the Next of Kin of the fallen officers will get N1 million each, totaling N5 million.”

    The SSG said the government would pay the medical bills of the policemen that were injured by the robbers.

    He said: “We thank God for sparing the lives of those injured. We are happy that they are responding to treatment and wish them quick recovery. Mr. Governor has said the state will bear their medical expenses and will continue to monitor their recovery.”

    Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, Mr. David Ayoku thanked the government and prayed that the state would not experience such a loss of again.

  • Caleb College celebrates awards

    Caleb College, Magodo, Lagos State, is to roll out the drums to celebrate its achievement in the 2011 May/June West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

    One of its students, Adeola Oluwaseun Akeju,was the second highest achiever in the examination; the school was also named the second best private school in the state.

    Adeola Akeju scored A1 in English Language, Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, Agricultural Science, Geography and Economics, while she had B2 in Physics and Yoruba Language.

    Speaking on Akeju’s feat, the Director, Dr Ola Adebogun, said the college competed favourably with notable schools in Lagos State to emerge the second best, adding that the college, like every other school, was assessed based on general performance by the students registered for the examination.

    Adebogun, however, expressed the management’s appreciation to parents for their support in driving the school’s vision ‘to raise Godly leaders who will achieve a consistent record of academic and moral excellence’. He promised that the college will sustain the standards attained by maintaining its facilities.

    Adebogun, who informed the parents and students that the college had also been nominated as one of the top six schools to be honoured by the Lagos State government and Ministry of Education, congratulated Akeju for making the Caleb family proud, and the staff and students for being outstanding ambassadors.

    In a related development, the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Lagos State chapter, has honoured Akeju and Caleb College for being the second best student and second best school in the 2011 May/June WASSCE. The awards were presented to Akeju and the school during the 2011 conference of the society, held at the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja, on October 10.

  • ‘How intellectuals failed Nigeria’

    A professor of Political Science Adele Jinadu has attributed the failure of partisan politics partly to the inability of some professionals and intellectuals who refused to practise what they learnt.

    Jinadu spoke at this year’s lecture of The City Club, Lagos, where he was the guest lecturer.

    Miffed by the inability of some of his colleagues to impact the political class for the benefit of the larger society, Jinadu, whose lecture was entitled: Governance and development: Whither Nigeria?, said being more knowledgeable because of their education and training, the former were in a vintage position to help build a greater Nigeria, where the people’s welfare would be provided.

    He said: “The intellectual vocation and professionalism seem to have been sacrificed on the altar of crass materialism, collectively shying away from their social responsibility and more regrettably, collaborating, in many instances and unconscionably so, with the public authorities in the rape of democratic policies in the country”.

    He noted that intellectuals should become a force to boost the little dividends of democracy and development.

    He recalled that in saner societies, professionals and intellectuals played a major role in checkmating politicians to do the rights by ‘becoming politically active’ in the broadest senses of the term through organised public engagement on public issues.

    He said since 1999, when Nigeria returned to democratic rule, it has been at a crossroads, which was why it embarked on endless debates on its future.

    He praised the country’s founding fathers for adopting federalism.

    He said: “The foresightedness remains the strength of the country’s constitutional political architecture, in spite of several years of authoritarian rule. The foresightedness is underscored by the rising popularity of federalism and its hybrid forms, such as political devolution to address governance and development issues thrown up by resurgent ethnicity worldwide.”

    He canvassed a people-oriented democracy, reformation of Nigeria‘s legal system, legal education, and party system and of agencies, such as the Code of Conduct Bureau; ICPC and EFCC.

  • CRESCENT FILE

    A total of 115 graduands have been awarded Bachelor degrees at the 4th Convocation of Crescent University, Abeokuta.

    The institution also honoured the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona (the university’s chancellor) and Governors of Kano and Katsina States, Alhaji Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and Dr Ibrahim Shehu Shema at the event.

    All the honorees were conferred with Doctor of Science (DSc) in Political Science and International Relations (honoris causa) of the institution.

    In his convocation address the Proprietor, HE Judge Bola Ajibola said he was elated that this year’s valedictorian, Fatimo Adebukola Adeniyi, was a female of Accounting, stressing that the occasion was the beginning of the fulfilment of his dream of founding the university seven years ago.

    “I am fulfilled because by successfully training a woman, we have trained a nation. I am fulfilled as part of my dream of founding this university with passion for developing women of knowledge and sound character is being realised. I am fulfilled because we are gradually contributing to nation-building by nurturing the minds of our youths particularly women”.

     

     

    Responding on behalf of other honorees, Kwankwaso said his government’s sponsorship of 100 students to Crescent University was just the beginning of the academic marriage, noting that Kano State had also sponsored hundreds of students abroad to study.

  • ACN chieftain calls for probe of polls

    A chieftain of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Oshati Olatunji Maxima, has urged the national leadership of the party to probe the outcome of Saturday’s election.

    Oshati, a federal constituency campaign director of the party, wondered why a party prepared so much in terms of mobilisation and lowered its guard at the 11th hour.

    According to him, there must be a sabotage somewhere by some party leaders in Ondo State.

    He said: “Although there were irregularities in the election, it would not have been enough to stop Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu if we had done the right thing at the right time.”

    Oshati likened the situation to throwing players, even if they are professionals, on the field without football boots, knowing the poor condition of the field.

    He promised to submit a report on what he felt was the cause of the poor performance of the ACN at the appropriate time to the national leaders if called upon.

    The ACN chieftain, however, hailed Akeredolu for exhibiting a strong character in the management of the party.