The Nation Newspaper

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  • Falana to sue over killing of woman, 70

    Falana to sue over killing of woman, 70

    A lawyer and human rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), plans to go to court over the alleged killing of a 70-year-old woman in Omuo-Ekiti.

    Mrs. Rebecca Adewunmi was mobbed by people reported to be allegedly acting on the orders of the monarch of the town, Oba Noah Omonigbehin, who has denied ever ordering anybody to attack the woman.

    Mrs. Adewumi was accused of afflicting her stepson, Ola Adewumi, who is now late, with a strange ailment with her witchcraft.

    Falana said: “The recent killings of four students in the University of Port Harcourt, the killings of 46 students in Mubi, the stoning to death of an old, so-called witch in Omuo-Ekiti, Ekiti State, are giving us sleepless nights.”

    The lawyer said he planned to meet the relevant arms of the government to know how far the case of Adewumi has gone.

    He said it was disappointing how the trucks belonging to a group of companies had turned the highways across the country into death traps.

  • Amaechi to enforce free education in 2013

    From next year, the Rivers State Government would make free education policy compulsory for all children of school age.

    Rivers State Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi broke the news at the weekend during the closing ceremony of the Garden City Literary Festival at the Banquet Hall of Hotel Presidential in Port Harcourt.

    According to Amaechi, parents would be required by law to send their children and wards to both the state government new model primary and secondary schools and other government primary and secondary schools that would be renovated and made to meet required standards.

    He said: “We are about to send to the state Assembly a bill that says it is a crime not to send your children to school… The reason is when you say education is free and compulsory, parents don’t take it seriously until you say they will go to jail if they don’t send their children and wards to school.”

    “We would not collect fees so it becomes criminal if you don’t send your children to school. From next year we would criminalise those who don’t take their children or wards to school because we will try everything possible to ensure that we provide infrastructure and facilities that will back our free education”, Amaechi promised.

  • Row in Imo over Fed Govt’s N400m flood aid

    There is a row in Imo State over the disbursement of the N400million Federal Government intervention fund for floods in the state.

    Some politicians and other stakeholders are said to be unhappy with the committee, which was set up to manage the fund and relief materials to victims.

    A senator from the state reportedly faulted the composition of the committee, saying it was constituted without his input.

    It was learnt that the senator accused the state government of playing politics with the floods.

    A House of Representatives member representing Ohaji-Egbema/Oguta, Gerald Irona, accused the state government of bias in the distribution of the materials to the victims.

    He urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate how the intervention fund would be disbursed.

    The lawmaker also called for the dissolution of the committee, adding that it comprises chieftains of the ruling All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA).

    Irona said: “With the membership of the committee selected from APGA, we doubt if there will be fairness in the process.”

    The victims in Ohaji-Egbema and Oguta local government areas were yet to have a camp, thus exposing them to health and security risks.

    Former Governor Ikedi Ohakim, at the weekend, visited the affected communities.

    He donated cows and other food items to them.

    Ohakim, who was accompanied by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwnliri, former House of Assembly Speaker Goodluck Opia and party supporters, promised to always assist the victims.

    He said: “We have come to condole with you over the flood disaster and to present to you this little gifts. They are not enough to replace what you have lost to the floods but, please, take it as our widow’s might. As time goes on, we will do more.

    “I want to assure all of you that I will do everything within my power to ensure that whatever has been given to you will come to you.”

     

  • Aregbesola tasks engineers on collapsed buildings, roads

    OSUN State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has tasked civil engineers to stem the tide of collapsed building and bad roads in the country.

    Aregbesola challenged the engineers at the reception held at the weekend in Ikeja, Lagos in honour of the Chairman of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Dr. Ezekiel Olajide Adeniji an engineer by the Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineers (NICE).

    The governor was represented by his Deputy Chief of Staff, Mr. Gbenga Adefusoye.

    Aregbesola said: “I must remind my professional colleagues of the state of our profession and its impact on our society, especially on civil engineering. Building continues to collapse and our roads are hardly getting better. We should be professionally challenged and do something to stem the tide.

    “Our civil engineers should be engaged for instance on how to construct enduring roads that will withstand the heavy tropical rains and excessive heat at minimal cost.

    “They should also be concerned about the low quality of job deliveries of some of our public and private works. We must as a professional body make positive impact on our society.”

    Aregbesola described Adeniji as a marketable product of good virtues that the state has to offer the country, nothing that he “is a worthy ambassador of the virtues that we embody in Osun”.

    Saying that the award bestowed on the FERMA chief did not come as a surprise, he added: “Dr. Adeniji is another demonstration of the fact that, in the state of Osun, we do not just pride ourselves as virtuous people, we live and breadth the values”.

    Adeniji expressed happiness and gratitude to God for the honour.

    While acknowledging the friendship and support of Aregbesola, he also promised his continued support and that of FERMA to the development of the institute.

    National Chairman of NICE, Amos Omopeloye, said Adeniji made the civil engineering family proud on his recent appointment as the executive chairman of FERMA.

    He said: “There is a reward and there will always be reward for those who are steadfast in every endeavour they have chosen. Adeniji has paid his dues in the practice of the civil engineering professionally, both locally and internationally to deserve the award bestowed on him.”

  • SSS, others won’t give up on war against terrorists, says DG

    The Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS), Mr. Ekpenyong Ita, has said the agency and others will not give up on the war against terrorists whom he told “enough is enough”.

    Ita spoke at the graduation ceremony of participants of Executive Intelligence Management Course No. 5 at the Institute for Security Studies, Lower Usuma Dam, Abuja.

    He said: “My dear graduands, you are graduating at the critical period of national development. It is a period the nation is facing complex security challenges, like kidnapping, oil theft, piracy, violent crimes and terrorism. I do not think this nation has ever faced a more fluid, more dynamic or more complex threat situations as what is currently being faced, particularly terrorism.

    “As you are leaving the Institute today, I want to prepare your mind to the situation you will be confronted with, even though at a reduced scale in your operational areas. Accordingly, I urge you to bring your wealth of professional experience and the knowledge you have acquired here to bear on these challenges.

    “I must say that the activities of terrorists have been serious sources of strain and stresses on corporate existence, image and development of the country. This service and other security forces with the support of government have worked assiduously to contain and reduce considerably the activities of these unscrupulous and misguided elements.

    “Accordingly, I want to thank Mr. President for the enormous support and encouragement he has given the Service which have assisted us to enhance our technical capacity, building of staff skills, knowledge and competences to fight the war against terrorism. This is a war we have paid the supreme sacrifice and have no alternative than to sustain the current tempo in order to ensure ultimate victory.

    “Let me reiterate the point that Nigeria can NEVER, NEVER be divided by the activities of some misguided, ignorant terrorists or those unscrupulous individuals whose activities and utterances kept chiseling though unsuccessfully the very foundation of those things we hold dear, particularly the unity of this country. To this last group of people, I am saying enough is enough.”

    The DG of SSS said the agency had adopted three key areas in addressing security challenges facing the country.

    He added: “As a Service, we have been responding to the prevalent threats to National Security by adopting a well calculated approach in three (3) keys areas. They include a vastly improved intelligence collection strategy, inter-agency partnership and information sharing and effective utilisation of limited resources.

    “We have since moved away from a reactive to a very proactive Service, where intelligence drives investigative and operational activities, enhances understanding of threat indicators and also our ability to mitigate and disrupt emerging threats.

    “We are prudently allocating our limited resources to target top priority threats with high impact approach. In addition to fundamentally changing the Services’ approach to conducting intelligence operations, we are also enhancing partnership with sister agencies, the key stakeholders, the press and the public at large. In particular, we maintain very close and cordial working relationship with the Joint Task Force (JTF) units and I commend the relationship.”

    He urged victims of terror not to succumb to fear.

    He said: “According to Robert Green: “Terror is the ultimate way to paralyze a peoples’

    will to resist and destroy their ability to plan a strategic response. Such power is gained through sporadic acts of violence that create a constant feeling of threat, incubating a fear that spreads throughout the public sphere”.

    “The goal in a terror campaign is not battlefield victory, but causing maximum chaos and provoking the other side into desperate over-reaction. Melting invisibly into the population, tailoring their actions for the mass media, the strategist of terror creates the illusion that they are far more powerful than they really are.

    “It is a war of nerves. The victims of terror must not succumb to fear or even anger; to plot the most effective counter strategy, they must stay balanced. In the face of terror campaign, one’s rationality is the last line of defence.”

  • Ladoja’s popularity is fake, says Oyo ACN

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Oyo State has said the “purported soaring popularity” of former Governor Rashidi Ladoja and Accord in the state is an imagination of its members.

    ACN was reacting to a statement credited to Accord’s Media Director, Mr. Dotun Oyelade, at the weekend.

    In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Dauda Kolawole, ACN said: “It is bad politics for the Accord to feel bad about the patriotic call by some persons for the speedy trial of Ladoja by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). This call should be encouraged by the Accord, if indeed it is convinced that its leader did not loot the state’s treasury.

    “We congratulate the Accord on the procurement of its most recent liability in the person of Oyelade. Here was a man, who at the dawn of democratic rule in 1999, was a member of the Alliance for Democracy, having worked with former Governor Lam Adesina as his Private Secretary.

    “He worked briefly underground for the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) too at a time. Immediately the Adesina administration was removed, Oyelade jumped ship and became Ladoja’s ally.

    “When Ladoja was impeached, Oyelade suddenly remembered that he attended the same secondary school with Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala and defected to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to wash the dirty linen of his Ogbomoso friend.

    “Immediately his friend was removed from office through popular votes

    in 2011, Oyelade made unsuccessful attempts to partner Governor Abiola Ajimobi and the ACN.

    “When he was rebuffed, he abandoned his friend, Alao-Akala, and returned to his long-abandoned vomit as the Director of Media of Ladoja’s Accord. We wish Accord well in its most recent acquisition.

    “A trip to the red light district of Asas in Molete, Ibadan, could not have earned Accord a better prostitute. Talk about a jaundiced message from the mouth of a discredited messenger.

    “The Ajimobi administration remains the potent weapon of re-orientating Oyo State politics from the Ladoja/Akala Amala politics, where the pockets of their cronies mattered more than the people’s welfare. We cannot blame the two leaders, because no one can give what he does not have.

    “In the 17 months of the Ajimobi administration, good governance has been resuscitated in the state. Anyone found guilty of embezzling state fund while in office should be held responsible.

    “The mark of good governance is honour. This has been exemplified by Ajimobi’s honouring of his political promises to Ladoja. This is what good governance entails. This was lacking in Ladoja and Akala’s administrations, where survival of the fittest and the elimination of the weakest reigned supreme. Ajimobi is a man of peace and honour. If the most recent Ladoja henchman does not know the definition of honour, then it is too bad.”

  • Minister to Nigerians: check criminals sabotaging investment in education

    Minister of State for Education Ezenwo Nyesom Wike has urged Nigerians to checkmate criminals sabotaging the Federal Government’s efforts to improve the education sector.

    Wike spoke during a visit to Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole and paramount ruler of the Benin Kingdom, Oba of Benin, Oba Erediuwa in Benin at the weekend.

    He said that the realisation that some officials of State Universal Basic Education Boards, connive with traders to sell free instructional materials to parents is worrisome.

    Wike said state governments must work hard to check the excesses of SUBEB officials.

    The minister, who was in Edo State on the advocacy tour to promote the enrolment of out-of-school children in the South, said the need to create access for out-of-school children was a collective responsibility for all stakeholders.

    He urged the Edo State government to allocate to the Federal Government a parcel of land to build a vocational school for out-of-school children .

    He said: “We are committed to ensuring that out-of-school Nigerian children have access to basic education. We started with the Almajiri children because they have the higher percentage of out-of-school children in the country. Since we have made tremendous progress in tackling the Almajiri challenge, we resolved to face the out-of-school in the South”.

    Oshiomhole, who was represented by his deputy, Dr Pius Odubu, commended the Federal Government for investing in the education of the less privileged.

    He said the Edo State government supports any investment in education, pointing out that the state believes education was vital to the development of the nation.

    At the Oba of Benin’s Palace, the traditional chiefs had interactive session with the Minister of State for Education on the efforts of the Federal Government to develop the education sector.

    The minister also inspected Federal Government’s project in the Federal Government Girls’ College in Benin. He expressed satisfaction with the level of work at the library project in the school.

  • Osun inaugurates 10,000-capacity cattle ranch

    The Osun State Government at the weekend inaugurated a 10,000-capacity cattle ranch.

    The ranch is called Osun Beef (O’Beef).

    The ceremony was held in the ranch at Oloba Farm Settlement in Iwo.

    Governor Rauf Aregbesola said the ranch would boost food production and ensure food security.

    Aregbesola said with the huge market for cattle in the Southwest, the ranch would improve the state’s economy.

    He said Lagos State consumes 6,000 cattle daily and none of it is supplied from the Southwest.

    The governor decried the heavy dependence on food importation.

    He said: “As a government, we must be able to produce the food we eat. A government cannot be said to be good if it is incapable of feeding its people.

    “This is why we promised to focus on animal rearing and food production, which are paramount to our development. In Lagos alone, 6,000 cows are slaughtered daily and they all come from the North.

    “Our target is just 10 per cent of the Lagos market. This will certainly boost the economy, as well as agro-based industry of our state.”

    The ranch is on 78.4 hectares of land. It is expected to supply the Southwest when it becomes fully operational.

    Aregbesola said more ranches would be established in Ede and Ejigbo.

    The ranch is being managed by a South African expert, the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the Faculty of Agriculture, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU).

    For now, it has 1,500 cattle, which were sourced locally.

    The governor said 30 foreign species, called the Zambian Boran, would be bought and crossbred with the local cattle.

    The ranch will be run on a public private partnership basis.

    When fully operational, it will have an abattoir, which will offer services to the public at a low rate.

  • ABUAD begins course in social justice

    Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), a Federal Government licensed private university acknowledged by NUC and other stakeholders as a model, and the fastest growing private university in Africa, has been granted approval by NUC to commence academic programme leading to the award of B.Sc Social Justice 2012/2013 academic session.

    The unique programme, designed by the University, is a multi-disciplinary and utility course for para-legal personnel to develop and strengthen the processes, values, skills and knowledge essential for alleviating the current problems that impair the working of the public and private sector.

    The programme, which is very rich in utility subjects and is mainly law, social sciences and international languages, will make the graduands bi-lingual and problem solvers in the public and private sectors, according to a statement from the university. They will be marketable in Nigeria and beyond and be sought for particularly in embassies, government agencies and parastatals such as Nigerian Police Force, NDLEA, Nigeria Prisons, Immigration, NAFDAC, EFCC, Nigerian Customs, Multi-national and Municipal companies.

    The graduates are not expected to attend Law School but are entitled to proceed to Postgraduate and Ph.D programmes. In addition, after graduating they could qualify for admission into second year in the Law College.

    Reforming our institutions and providing professionals depend on quality contributions from well-trained men and women.

    When the Resource Verification Team from NUC visited the institution, the leader of the team, Prof. Eyin Oshio said, “It is good I have been here as an eye witness of this spectacular development. Excellent! This is worthy of emulation, continue to excel, never relent and never give up”. Another member of the team, Dr. Kumo has this to say, “a truly determined faculty, equipped with adequate resources to achieve excellence”.

  • Floods leave thousands stranded in Delta communities

    The Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Niger Delta, Senator James Manager, has urged the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs to take urgent steps to make the East/West Road motorable, so that relief materials can be taken to people stranded in the areas.

    Manager (Delta South Senatorial District) spoke while donating relief materials to flood victims in camps at Patani, Bomadi and Burutu local government areas.

    He said flood victims in Patani and others have been cut off, except by boat.

    Manager said the cost of transportation from Warri to Port Harcourt has increased from about N1,000 to N4,000 because transporters take the longer route through Asaba-Onitsha-Owerri to Port Harcourt.

    He said this has led to an increase in the price of foodstuff and other items.

    Manager urged the relevant bodies to fumigate the affected communities when the water recedes to avoid an epidemic.

    Manager’s wife, Mrs. Juliana Manager, distributed relief materials at other camps.

    Items distributed included foodstuff, toiletries, mattresses and N200,000 cash to each of the camps and villages.

    Mrs. Manager said the items were donated by her husband, Mr. Frank Enekorogha (Burutu Federal Constituency) and Mr. Oboro Preyor (Bomadi State Constituency).