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Tag: ABU

  • GOtv Boxing Night 18: Ibadan agog for ABU title fight

    Boxing fans in Ibadan and other parts of Oyo State, as well as neighbouring states, are gripped with excitement, as the GOtv Boxing Night 18 approaches. The show, slated to hold on Sunday at the Indoor Sports Hall of the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium in Ibadan will see the city host the African Boxing Union (ABU) lightweight title bout, the headline fight, featuring Nigeria’s Oto “Joe Boy” Joseph against Ghana’s Success “Brave Warrior” Tetteh.

    It will also feature two Ibadan cult boxing heroes, Akeem “Dodo” Sadiku and Ridwan “Scorpion” Oyekola. The latter will seek to dethrone Taofeek “Taozon” Bisuga as the national super featherweight champion, while the former will take on Ekpresso Djamihou of the Republic of Benin in an international light middleweight challenge duel. Five other fights are lined up, with some of them featuring big names on the domestic boxing scene.

    Fans have taken to various social platforms, where they have expressed their delight and openly declared their preferences for the show’s best boxer award, which carries a cash prize of N1million.

    Among Ibadan fans, Scorpion is the preferred choice for the majority for the award. The national title contender won the award at GOtv Boxing Night 15 and is being widely tipped for a repeat. Joe Boy, who has a large community of fans, mostly from Lagos, is currently running him close and stands a good chance if he puts up a good fight and successfully defends his ABU title.

  • Our soldiers are over deployed – Former IGP Arase

    Nigeria is over deploying its military personnel to maintain law and order in different parts of the country and the areas where security is most needed is becoming vulnerable, former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Solomon Arase has said.

    The former IGP stated this in Zaria on Monday while presenting a lead paper at the 50th Anniversary and International Conference of Department of Political Science and International Studies, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, said such action should be a source of serious concern to the nation.

    Read Also:Soldiers kill 10 kidnappers, bandits in Kaduna

    Arase, who is an ABU alumnus having graduated 38 years ago from the department, also said the country’s soldiers were deployed to 28 states across the federation and that this would continue to undermine the country’s civil police.

    The former police boss said the country should as a matter of urgency national importance strengthen its civil police to allow the military face its primary traditional assignment of defending the country’s external aggression.

    He expressed concern that most state governments hardly convened regular security meeting except when there was a serious security breach, saying that state governors should as matter of priority accord genuine attention to community policing to confront head on the security challenges facing the nation.

    Arase also canvassed for the development of a comprehensive national policy framework for effective security network with much emphasis on community policing where traditional institutions would be deeply involved in security handling.

    The former IG said no society could get its security system right without, first and foremost, the consent of its people since security matters were the concerns of everybody.

    He said Nigerian government should take the advantage of ICT to improve its security system, saying that when he was IG he once requested the then President to send an executive bill to the National Assembly to make it mandatory the installation of CCTV cameras in all shopping malls in Abuja and other cities across the nation.

    In his goodwill message at the occasion, the Emir of Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State, Malam Zubairu Jibrin, concurred with the position of the former IG on security measures, saying community policing was inevitable if the country was serious in the search for effective security system.

    “Community policing is not new to us (traditional rulers); it has been with us since time immemorial; and it is still relevant to our present situation. In fact, the complete picture of the former IG’s lecture is that security issue is also part of the responsibility of the traditional institutions,” he said.

    The emir, who graced the occasion in his capacity as an alumnus of Department of Political Science and International Studies, urged Nigerian leaders to make it a top priority the welfare of soldiers and police personnel in view of their delicate assignments.

     

  • Skoro wins ABU title

    Waidi “Skoro” Usman, on Saturday, won the African Boxing Union (ABU) featherweight title by knocking out Michael “Shaka” Nyawade of Kenya in the eleventh round.

    The bout, one of the seven at GOtv Boxing Night 14, held at the National Stadium in Lagos, saw Skoro knock down his opponent four times.

    The Nigerian pugilist, who also holds the West African Boxing Union (WABU) title, was on a redemption-seeking mission. A shot at the title in December 2015 resulted in defeat to Uganda’s Edward Kakembo.

    Another big winner on the night was Rilwan “Baby Face” Babatunde, who emerged the WABU welterweight champion via a fifth-round knockout of Republic of Benin’s Djossou Agoy Basile. He also won the Mojisola Ogunsanya Memorial Trophy for the best boxer, as well as a cash prize of N1million.

    Similarly, Rilwan “Real One” Oladosu defeated Kehinde “Ijoba” Badmus to win the national lightweight title.

    The colourful boxer won the national lightweight title by defeating Kehinde “Ijoba” Badmus.  A national challenge bout in the category also saw the ABU champion, Oto “Joe Boy” Joseph defeat a hard-fighting Prince “Lion” Nwoye.

    In the cruiserweight category, Abiodun “Finito” Afini knocked out Razak “Hyena” Ramon. Sulaimon “Olags” Adeosun saw off Majesty “Majesty 1” Maduka in their light heavyweight challenge duel, while Chukwuebuka “Wise King” Ezewudo defeated Semiu “Jagaban” Olapade.

  • GOtv Boxing Night 14: Skoro vows to win ABU title

    Nigeria’s Waidi “Skoro” Usman, who is billed to make a second bid for the African Boxing Union featherweight title at GOtv Boxing Night 14, holding at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium on 14 April, has vowed to win the title. Skoro is billed to fight Kenya’s Michael “Shaka” Nyawade in the headline fight at the event.

    Speaking in Lagos yesterday, Skoro, who lost a bid for the title to Uganda’s Edward Kakembo in 2015, said he is happy to have the opportunity again and he is certain of victory. He blamed his loss to the Ugandan on a bout of malaria he said he suffered before the fight.

    “This time, it will be different. I lost to Kakembo because I was sick about a week to the fight and I did not fully recover. This time, I am as fit as a horse and Nywade will pay for my loss. The title cannot go to East Africa this time. It will be with me in Nigeria,” said Skoro.

    GOtv Boxing Night 14 will feature six other fights, including the West African Boxing Union (WABU) title fight between Rilwan “Baby Face” Babatunde and Djossou “Agoy” Basile of the Republic of Benin.

    Rilwan “Real One” Oladosu, winner of the best boxer award at GOtv Boxing Night 13, will take on Kazeem “Ijoba” Badmus in the national lightweight title fight. Also in action on the night is Oto “Joe Boy” Joseph, who takes on Prince “Lion” Nwoye in a national lightweight challenge bout. The event will equally see Abiodun “Finito” Afini square up with Razak “Hyena” Ramon in a national cruiserweight challenge bout, while Chukwuebuka “Wise King” Ezewudo will test his mettle when he faces Semiu Olapade. The seventh fight will between Sulaimon Adeosun and Majesty Maduka.

  • ABU to establish locally-built refineries in Niger Delta

    The Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria has launched an initiative to establish conventional and standard locally-build refineries in Niger Delta to boost local oil production.

    Professor  Ibrahim Mohammed-Dabo, the Team Leader, ABU Refinery Project, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Zaria, Kaduna State that the team’s ultimate is to have a conventional and standard locally build refinery that can refine Nigerian crude.

    Mohamed-Dabo, a Professor of Chemical Engineering said: “We are hoping, if enough funding is made available to us, to perfect what we have on ground. We shall be willing to build other ones that can be stationed in the Niger Delta.

    “This is where most of the Nigerian crude oil is produced. When new ones are built, we are going to train operators that will manage them.”

    He recalled that the ABU mini refinery project started in 2011 when he wrote a research proposal to the university management for onward delivery to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) for funding.

    “In monetary terms, the initial stage of the project was proposed to cost a total of N18 million, but to our surprise, only N1.8 million was approved for the project,” he said.

    “We initially wanted to abandon the project because the amount approved was so small, but being very passionate about it, we started the design and fabricated some components with that meagre amount.

    “Actually, it reached a stage that we had to use our personal money for the project. When we started installation at the site, we invited the university management to the site and they were very happy.

    “On appreciating what was done, the then Vice-Chancellor pledged that the university was going to support the project which they did by providing land, security light and water,” Mohammed-Dabo said.

    He added that dedicated personnel  were employed purposely for the project and the university hasbeen very supportive.

    He added:”As you know, refinery is made up of many units; the first unit to be put in place in any refinery are the desalting and crude distillation units.

  • ABU staff unions disagree over SSANU strike

    ABU staff unions disagree over SSANU strike

    The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian University (SSANU), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) branch Zaria, Kaduna State, is in crisis following a directive by a faction asking its members to end the ongoing strike and resume work on Wednesday.

    The factional chairman, Mr Iliyasu Bello, announced this at a news conference at the union’s secretariat at the main campus, Samaru, Zaria on Tuesday shortly after a congress meeting.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Universities Joint Action Committee comprising SSANU, Non Academic Staff Union (NASU) and National Association of Academic Technicians (NAAT) had embarked on a nationwide strike since December 2017.

    The chairman said the strike was directed by the national leadership of the union on Dec. 4, 2017.

    He said the strike had lost focus as government was not listening to the union and academic activities were still going on in all the universities.

    “After a congress meeting held today, we resolved that the strike be suspended with immediate effect; therefore, all members are directed to resume work tomorrow (Wednesday).

    “This is because the strike is ineffective, it has lost focus; government is not inviting them for dialogue, academic activities are still in progress.

    “Therefore, this strike has failed; it has not yielded the desired impact and must be suspended,” he noted.

    Bello said that the union had dissociated itself from the national body of the association.

    In a swift reaction to the development, the SSANU National Women Leader and a member of staff of ABU, Hajiya Hadiza Kabir, said: “As far as I am concerned, Bello is no longer a member of SSANU.

    “He has been suspended by the NEC due to his acts and he went to court but the court passed a judgment against him by striking out the case.”

    She said one person would not hold the union back, assuring that the strike would continue pending the decision of the national body of SSANU.

    Hadiza called on members, SSANU and the university joint unions, to continue with the strike while they awaited further directives from the national headquarters.

    She expressed regret that the ABU management was listening to Bello’s faction, giving him the opportunity to do what he liked.

    She insisted that the matter was a purely union affairr and the management should be fair to all parties.

    “Why should management of ABU involve itself in union matter for God’s sake? Bello has been expelled from the union, so he is not our member.

    “The congress was illegally convened because he has no locus standi to organise it and our strike still stands,” she declared. (NAN)

  • Court orders CBN, three other banks to disclose ABU’s credit balance

    Court orders CBN, three other banks to disclose ABU’s credit balance

    The National Industrial Court, Abuja, on Monday ordered four banks to within 14 days disclose the balance standing of all accounts operated by the Ahmadu Bello University ( ABU ) Zaria.

    The listed banks are:  Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), First Bank Nigeria Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, and ABU Microfinance Bank (Main and Kongo Campuses).

    The judge, Justice Rakiya Haastrup, made the order while ruling on a motion ex-parte, filed by 110 staff of the university, wrongly sacked by the authority of the institution.

    The motion was brought pursuant to Order 51 of the Rules of the Court and Section 83 of the Sheriffs and Civil Process Act, CAP.407, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

    “The court has scrutinised this application and therefore holds that the prayers of the applicant/judgment creditors remain valid. The three prayers are hereby granted.

    “All the named garnishee banks are ordered to file and serve on the applicant/judgment creditor, sworn affidavit disclosing the balance standing to the respondent/judgment debtors’ account maintained with the garnishees.

    Read also: 5 banks  hit new highs as equities’ return rises to N1.84tr

    “They should show cause why the amounts standing to the credit of the debtors should not be used to satisfy the judgment debt within 14 days from the date of receipt of the order’’, she said.

    The judge also made an order mandating the attachment of the amount standing to the credit of the respondents/judgment debtors with the garnishees in favour of the judgment creditor.

    According to her, the exhibition of the outstanding amount is necessary in order to satisfy the judgment debt owed by virtue of Justice P.O. Lifu’s judgment delivered on November 30, 2015.

    Haastrup also made an order, directing the banks to show cause why they should not pay the N2.5 billion plus Claimant/Judgment Creditors Salaries from July 2016 to date.

    She held that the amount to be paid included 10 per cent interest awarded the applicant/judgment creditors in the judgment as outstanding salaries and other emoluments.

    The court also granted leave to the applicant/judgment creditors to serve the court order and other processes in the case on the garnishee banks by service at their Regional Headquarters in Abuja.

    The court, had in November 2017 struck out a motion of stay of execution, filed by the university to stall the payment of the amount.

    Haastrup, in her ruling, maintained that the motion was “not competent, lacking in merit and therefore refused to grant it.

    Haastrup said the application had not shown any exceptional circumstances to justify that the institution had no resources to pay the amount ordered by the court on November 30, 2015.

    The application had indicated that the defendants lacked the resources to settle the workers and would be financially crippled if allowed to pay the estranged workers the said sum.

    The 110 workers, whose appointments were terminated in 1996, had dragged the university to court, claiming they were wrongly terminated.

    They joined the Minister of Education, the Attorney-General of the Federation, and the Minister of Justice, as co-defendants in the suit.

    The court, on November 30, 2015, ruled in favour of the workers, ordering the university to reinstate them and pay their entitlements.

    The university is yet to comply with the orders, which has necessitated this latest applicant seeking the garnishing of the institution’s bank accounts with the above four banks.

    The judge has fixed Feb.22, for the hearing of the substantive application.

    NAN

  • CBN donates N8bn business school edifice to ABU

    CBN donates N8bn business school edifice to ABU

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has completed and handed over an N8 billion worth, business school edifice to Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Kaduna State.

    The construction of the edifice called Centre of Excellence started in 2009. It was designed by the Nigeria’s apex bank to serve as a business school, which will produce post graduate students in Economics, Accounting, Banking and Finance, Business Administration and Statistics, that can compete favourably with graduates of renowned business schools around the world like Stanford, Yale and Harvard.

    Handing the Centre of Excellence edifice to the ABU authority, the CBN Deputy Governor in charge of Corporate Services, Alhaji Suleiman Barau said, the intervention was in recognition of the pivotal role of education in driving the economy.

    He said, “Education is the bedrock of economic development the world over and the Central Bank of Nigeria appreciates the pivotal role education plays in driving the economy. A key derivative of the Bank’s developmental function is therefore to support the educational subsector in Nigeria through the provision of physical projects such as buildings and equipment in schools.

    “Since 2009, the CBN, in recognition of the need to build capacity in the financial sector, embarked on the execution of building projects in institutions of higher learning, of which Ahmadu Bello University, is today one of the beneficiaries.

    “The Centre of Excellence project, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, was conceived in April 2009 and awarded in October 2009 to Messrs AFDIN Nigeria Limited. In conceiving this project, the aim of the Bank was to ensure students at post graduate levels in Economics, Accounting, Banking and Finance, Business administration and Statistics study in a serene and ambient environment that would stimulate effective learning with a view to building human capacity for the financial services sub-sector.

    “Indeed, the overall aspiration of the CBN in implementing the Centre of Excellence Project is to provide world class higher learning facilities comparable to other renowned business schools around the world like Stanford, Yale and Harvard” he said.

    While urging the university to develop high level of maintenance culture towards the centre, the CBN boss disclosed that the apex bank had set aside N2billion for the running and maintenance of the business school for certain period of time.

    He also said similar centres have been built at the University of Ibadan, the Enugu campus of the University of Nigeria (UNN), while three other universities will soon benefit from similar projects to ensure spread across the country’s six geo-political zones.

    Receiving the centre on behalf of the university community, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Ibrahim Garba said, the vision of the university in reforming its business education would have taken a long time to be realized without the world class postgraduate structure offered by the CBN.

    The Vice Chancellor who was represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor Academics, Professor Kabir Bala while expressing appreciation to the Central Bank said, the structure matches any business school complex in the world in terms of functionality as well as currency.

    In an interview with journalists shortly after the ceremony, Professor Bala said the project cost about N8 billion.

    The project comprises, a three storey Faculty Building, comprising lecture halls, auditorium, seminar rooms and literacy, two storey hostel buildings consisting single and double self-contained bedrooms, laundries, kitchen, cafeteria and lounges.

     

     

  • All hail the best

    All hail the best

    For deploying their innovative ideas in solving the challenges of Baggega community in Zamfara State, some students of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) in Zaria, Kaduna State, have won the first prize at the just-concluded ENACTUS National Competition. The team will represent Nigeria at the ENACTUS global challenge holding in London in September. WALE AJETUNMOBI reports.

    Feeling from the devastating effect of lead poisoning, which killed no fewer than 1,500 people in 2009, Baggega community, a village in Anka Local Government Area of Zamfara State, struggled to hold itself together after the environmental disaster. The means of livelihood in the community – farming – was destroyed, posing a great risk of food insecurity to the community and rendering many of the villagers impoverished because they could not go to farm.

    Access to potable water also became a challenge for members of the agrarian community with a population of 7,535, due to the contamination of the community stream.  These problems lingered until last year when succour came to the villagers through innovative ideas of a group of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) students, who moved to the village to help residents solve the challenge.

    To tackle the community’s water challenge, the students, who are members of the ABU chapter of Entrepreneurial Action In Us (ENACTUS), fabricated a bio-filter devices that can purify contaminated water for domestic consumption.

    The device is fitted with an overhead tank in which contaminated water is pumped, using mechanical pumps. The water is made to pass through filtration sand, which forms the bio-layer in the tank. The bio-layer removes pathogens and dissolved contaminants in the water. The device has gravel zone, which helps to hold the filtration sand in place and allows adsorption process to take place.

    Before the technology was commercialised, the students tested the efficiency of the device by passing a sample of contaminated water for a continuous flow in the system for 15 days. The lead concentration in the water was reduced from an alarming strength of 0.164mg/L to 0.0061mg/l, meeting up with the standards of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

    The students trained seven youths in the community on how to build the device at low cost of N1,450. The device sells for N2,500, yielding a profit of N1,050 per product and it can last for three years.

    To tackle the food insecurity facing the Baggega community, the ENACTUS team partnered with National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) and United for Climate Change to set up aqua-fresh integrated farm, which comprises a weather-friendly materials, and an aquaponics system, which grows vegetables and fish.

    The innovation allows ammonia solution to recycle from the fish tank to growing pods, where plants are grown using a pump and a piping system. The pods convert excess ammonia into useful nitrates by bacterial action. The nitrate solution is absorbed by coconut fibers, which comes in direct contact with the plant roots, giving the plants nutritional value. The recycled water flows back into the fish tank and the process repeats itself continuously.

    Given the impact made by these two innovative projects, the ABU students won the first prize at the three-day ENACTUS National Challenge held at Civic Centre on Victoria Island, Lagos. With the feat, the ABU team earned a ticket to represent Nigeria at the ENACTUS World Cup Challenge holding in London, the United Kingdom (UK) in September, where the students will present the projects before international business leaders.

    No fewer than 20 ENACTUS teams from various tertiary institutions participated in the three-round national competition. The students’ teams implemented various community-based projects which were targeted at addressing real developmental, social and economic problems. The objective of the projects is to equip young people with viable entrepreneurial skills to help them transform lives and solve developmental challenges facing communities around them.

    At the opening round, the teams’ projects were evaluated by a set of judges, comprising business leaders and industry professionals. Eight teams moved to the semi-final round, while four teams contested at the final round.

    Having assessed the teams’ projects in relation to the impact made in their communities, the ABU team was declared the first prize winner. Covenant University (CU) team came second with Tunse project – an online platform that connects blue-collar workers and artisans to customers of closest proximity. The University of Lagos (UNILAG) team came third.

    The event featured Youth Leadership Summit, where successful entrepreneurs and business leaders engaged the participants on value-driven leadership.

    The students were told to imbibe the virtue of integrity, selflessness, honesty, transparency, accountability, justice and compassion in their personal and official engagements.

    The summit was followed by panel of discussion, which hosted the Chief Executive Officer of Vertex Energy Limited Mr. Olusegun Olujobi, who spoke on Values-driven leadership as a tool for personal growth and national transformation. He highlighted the key values in leadership and how the values could help transform the nation.

    Other members of the panel included a leadership and management consultant, Mr Adetokunbo Obayan, CEO of Zolts Ltd, Mr. Chike Onyia, and Head of Corporate Development of Capital Alliance Nigeria Ltd, Mrs Uwa Osa-Oboh, among others.

    Highlight of the event included a cultural fair, during which participants adorned colorful attires to showcase the nation’s rich cultural diversity.

    The ENACTUS Country Director, Mr Michael Ajayi, said: “Beyond the competition, ENACTUS programmes provide the unique opportunity for capacity development for the students in the areas of leadership and entrepreneurship, while we encourage selflessness and promote volunteerism.”

    Guests at the event included the Deputy Head of Mission of the British High Commission in Nigeria, Mr Andrew Davidson, Managing Director of Cardinal Developer Trust Ltd and Chairperson, ENACTUS Nigeria, Mrs Bernadine Okeke, Principal of African Capital Alliance Foundation, Mr. Segun Adebanji, and Vice President of Lekoil Ltd, Mr. Hamilton Esi, among others.

  • ABU to honour women in defence, judiciary and security

    Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and the International Institute for Security and Governance Studies have announced plans to honour women who have excelled in areas of security, defence, law enforcement and judiciary.

    Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences (ABU), Prof. Paul Izah made this known in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday.

    Izah noted that despite the enormous contributions of women in these fields most women are not identified and celebrated in the country.

    He said the conference and award would identify and celebrate hard work, integrity, commitment to duty, diligence, bravery, patriotism and nation building as demonstrated by the female gender in these sectors.

    “It will additionally help to us showcase authentic female role models for our young girls, authentic role models abounds in Nigeria, but they need to be identified, recognized and celebrated.

    “It is high time Nigeria give women their rightful place, because any country that relegates 50% of its population is doomed, education of the girl child is paramount, especially in the North,” he said.

    Dr. David Okoror of the IISGS, who doubles as the Director, Conference and Awards, said the awards would be for women and organizations in security, law enforcement and judiciary.