The Nation Newspaper

Tag: centres

  • Detention centres

    •Monthly visits by magistrates will reduce the agony of detainees

    CHIEF Judge (CJ) of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Justice Ishaq Bello, deserves praise for the committee he has set up to implement the provisions of section 34 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA). Section 34 provides that the chief magistrate, or where there is no chief magistrate within the police division, any magistrate designated by the chief judge for that purpose shall, at least every month, conduct an inspection of police stations or other places of detention within his territorial jurisdiction other than the prison.

    There is no doubt that the makers of the ACJA, in making section 34, had in mind the challenges faced by detainees arising from structural challenges in the administration of criminal justice in the country. One of the challenges is tardiness on the part of the police, which results in detention of persons well beyond the statutory period allowed by the 1999 constitution (as amended). There are even instances where the records of the crime committed by a detainee are misplaced, which in turn hampers a proper trial.

    According to the CJ, the ACJA was “enacted as a solution to the challenge faced by the Nigerian court system.” There are reports that detainees suffer unnecessarily because of these challenges, and so we support genuine effort to make detention process more humane. The CJ also envisages that “the proposed police stations visit will provide a platform to introduce a legal advice scheme to ensure suspects and victims have access to free legal advice and that they are kept in humane conditions as the ACJA anticipates.”

    No doubt such a monthly visit will bring greater efficiency and enhance a better justice delivery system. Such visits would also stop reports that sometimes the records of crime of detainees could vanish, resulting in some detainees languishing in detention permanently. Furthermore, it should stop cases of under-aged detainees, sometimes even amongst persons accused of committing serious crimes. Indeed, it should end the bizarre allegation that lawful detainees could be swapped with other persons; and the deplorable condition of detention centres.

    We hope to see the end of maltreatment of detainees by police officials, sometimes through the deprivation of full rations, inhumane tactics during interrogations, or sexual abuse of the female detainees, amongst other vices. We believe that a monthly visit by a court official will serve as a check on some of these allegations. So the CJ is right in his expectation that the “inauguration of the working group births the change we want to see in the area of human rights of persons in the police stations and other detention centres,”

    The challenges faced by detainees at  police stations and other detention centres compelled the law makers to enact section 34 of the act, so that the chief judge gets a report from the chief magistrate or any other person so designated. That report will enable the CJ to exercise his powers to release detainees or make necessary recommendations. After all, generally, under our laws, no person should be detained for more than 48 hours, without being charged to court.

    The CJ also said that “apart from ensuring that rights of suspects are respected in the detention centres, the group is being tasked to come up with strategies for the effective implementation of this project.”

    We urge the committee to ensure the project is implemented to give verve to the provisions of the 1999 constitution. We also urge chief judges of states that have enacted the Administration of Criminal Justice laws, to emulate Justice Bello by ensuring the enforcement of section 34 of the law.

  • Fadama builds N42m centres to prevent loss

    The Niger State Fadama Project Coordinator, Aliyu UsmanKutigi, an engineer, said the state coordination office has constructed six aggregation centres to prevent post food harvest loss for N42 million.

    Speaking in Minna during a workshop on Probity and Accountability for Desk Officers and Facilitators of Fadama in the state, Kutigi said the aggregation centres which were constructed at Badeggi, Katcha, Kutigi, Izom, Sabon Ramu and Sabon Ushe  will enable farmers store farm produce with minimal farm produce getting spoilt.

    The Fadama Project Coordinator said the workshop would enable the participants contribute their quota to the state and Federal Government crusade against corruption.

    “Fadama 111 AF aims to train its staff so that it will in no small measure eradicate or reduce corruption in agricultural sector which is the backbone of the nation’s economy,” he said.

    He stressed the need to imbibe the culture of attitudinal change in all administrations.

    The Lead Resource Person,  Hon Danladi Umar Abdulhameed in his presentation, said corruption cuts across all sectors as everybody or group in the society is to blame.

    He recommended reward for the hardworking and honesty and punishment of perpetrators of corrupt practices.

    He added that government needed to strenghten agriculture, education, health and other critical sectors in order to chase poverty, hunger, ignorance and diseases out of the country.

  • Anambra begins assessment of skill centres

    Anambra State government has begun assessment of skill acquisition centres in the 21 local governments.

    The Special Adviser to Governor Willie Obiano on Youth Empowerment and Mobilisation, Dr. Onyekachukwu Ibezim, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Awka yesterday that the assessment was to get first-hand information about the facilities and equip them for training of youths.

    He said the exercise was to empower youths to be self-reliant.

    The aide said the Obiano administration was committed to improving lives of the citizenry, especially youths.

    He urged youths to acquire skills to boost their income.

    Ibezim enjoined them to shun vices and acts that could mar their future.

    He advised residents to protect government’s facilities.

     

  • Inner Wheel to Ambode: build cancer centres

    The Inner Wheel Club, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), has urged the Lagos State Government to build one cancer centre in each of the five old divisional areas of the state: Epe, Badagry, Ikeja, Lagos Island and Ikorodu.

    Mrs Fathiat Rufai, the 34th District Chairman of the Club, made the appeal in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

    Rufai condemned the rate at which cancer was claiming the lives of people, especially women, across the country.

    “This is not encouraging; it is saddening. We need to create avenues to reduce the death rate of cancer in the state and across the country.

    “That is the reason why the organisation is calling on the Lagos State Government to help in building cancer centres in the five old divisional areas of the state.

    Rufai lamented at the increasing rate at which cancer was claiming the lives of people especially women across the country.

    “This is not encouraging; it is sadden. We need to create avenue to reduce the death rate of cancer in the state and across the country.

    “That is the reason why the organisation is calling on Lagos State Government to help in building cancer centres across the divisional areas of the state.

    “It will give patients the opportunity to have quick and easy access to where they can have treatment at early stage before getting worst,’’ she said.

    Rufai said that the NGO recently had a road show awareness on cancer in Lagos, which was part of the organisation’s project for this year.

    “Early detection of cancer can still be cured, therefore, women once they notice any strange lumps in their breasts or any part of their bodies should report to the clinic immediately.

    “Cancer kills; it has claimed lives of several women in the society. We are not happy about this occurrence,’’ she said.

    She urged the government to be proactive in addressing the disease in the state and across the society by providing cancer centres across the city.

    “We want the Lagos State Government to come to women’s aid by providing early solution to this disease.

    “We are your mothers, your wives, sisters, aunties and daughters, therefore, you need to come to our rescue in providing solutions to this disease at an early stage through building of cancer centres, and equipping them  with modern equipment and facilities,’’ she said.

     

  • Senate seeks suspension of new health centres

    •Fed Govt told to present details of funding

    Senate has ordered the suspension of Federal Government’s plan to build new primary health centres in each of the wards across the country.

    The upper chamber asked relevant agencies involved in the building plan to furnish it with details offunding of the project.

    The Senate Committee on Primary Health and Communicable Diseases, which handed the suspension, said it was obvious that the project was not viable now due to paucity of fund.

    The committee chairman,Mao Ohuabunwa, at a meeting with officials of the agency, said funding of such policy would be a problem now.

    The committee noted that the said multi-billion naira project was not captured in the 2017 budget.

    The committee said the N3 million provided for each of the existing primary health centres in the 2016 budget barely paid the salaries of the health personnel in some local governments.

    The National Health Care Development Agency told the committee that it has commenced training of 20 women in each ward of the Federation to handle the proposed health centres under its Community Health Programme initiative.

    Its Executive Secretary, Dr. FaizaShuaibu, said the new programme was in addition to the National Midwifery Scheme for which they may spend over N800 million this year for its implementation.

    The committee asked the agency to forget such policy for now because it would amount to waste of public funds to create new health centres when many of such centres have been abandoned due to lack of fund.

    Ohuabunwa said the committee would rather want the agency to consider building such centres in the 774 local government areas as a pilot scheme to observe how they can work first.

  • Candidates confirm receiving UTME examination centres

    Candidates confirm receiving UTME examination centres

    •JAMB urges other applicants to check e-mails

    Candidates for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) have confirmed receiving their examination centres as promised by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

    Some candidates, who spoke with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja yesterday, said they started getting their centres from Wednesday.

    However, a few others said they were yet to get their centres.

    The JAMB registrar had promised that all candidates would receive their centres before Saturday.

    JAMB registered 1,736, 571 candidates for the 2017 UTME, which is holding in 624 centres nationwide.

    The board has advised candidates for the examination taking place on Saturday to check their e-mails for notification of their centres.

    JAMB’s Head, Media and Information, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, gave the advice in an interview with NAN yesterday.

    Benjamin said this advice was necessary because some candidates complained of lack of communication less than 72 hours to the exam.

  • Heineken unveils pop-up experience centres

    Heineken unveils pop-up experience centres

    Heineken has introduced pop-up experience centres for consumers to replace Heineken House Lagos. The new centres will enable it extend its viewing experience across major cities in the country.

    Heineken, which sponsors the UEFA Champions League, made the announcement at the ‘One Last Time’ party, it held in Lagos.

    “The Heineken House Lagos is widely known and well regarded. The House has over the years become a true evidence of the level of comfort Heineken offers to its consumers. However, the Heineken House Lagos will now be replaced by several Heineken pop-up experience centers in major cities in Nigeria,” Senior Brand Manager, Heineken, Ngozi Nkwoji said.

    She described the pop-up experience centers as an extension of Heineken’s desire to ensure that the premium experience is enjoyed by its consumers across the country.

    The Heineken House Lagos, the first Champions Planet in Africa, was the premium home of new exciting experiences and conviviality as it offered visitors, business leaders and influential personalities an opportunity to enjoy matches while building new relationships. The ‘One Last Time’ party was held to celebrate these experiences the Heineken House provided for fans of the UCL over the years.

  • ‘Establish centres to monitor earthquakes’

    Following the tremor that recently occurred in some parts of  Oyo, Bayelsa, Rivers and Kaduna states, a group, the Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG), has lent its voice to calls for the establishment of more seismological stations to monitor crustal movements in the identified earthquake-prone areas in the country.

    The group urged the government to invest in earthquake electromagnetic precursors monitoring devices to avert future earthquakes.

    The group, in a statement, recalled that about a year ago, it drew the attention of the government to the possibility of an earthquake;  advising it to reduce the spate of substandard building construction through vigilant monitoring.

    The statement signed by its National President, Kunle Awobodu and National Publicity Secretary, George Akinola, said a nation without an effective national building code would end up in ruins if an earthquake occurred, noting that the enforcement of building regulations without compromise would prevent serious calamity in the future.

    It explained that vibrations accompanying the earth tremors in the affected areas resulted in the collapse of mud houses and infliction of visible cracks in modern buildings within the affected areas.

    This development, it observed,  ossified the harbinger on the possibility of the country having an  earthquake induced-disaster in the near future.

    “The perception that Nigeria is safe or far from the seismic active regions is no longer tenable. Shaki in Oyo State has been subjected to intermittent earth tremors this year and climaxed in the first week of June 2016. Communities in Bayelsa and Rivers states on July 10, 2016 had a similar experience, but in this case due to prolonged effect of oil exploration,” the Guild said, adding that earth tremors have occurred in the country in 1933, 1939, 1964, 1984,1990, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2009 and 2016. It, however, said a series of earth tremors might not necessarily lead to high intensity earthquake.

    The guild explained that a study  by Dr. Adepelumi Abraham of the Department of Geology, Obafemi  Awolowo University (OAU), Ile- Ife, showed that after the tremor of 2009 in the Southwest, the probability of earthquake occurrence in the study area between the year 2009 and 2028 had increased from 2.8 per cent to 91.1 per cent.

    The group, therefore, urged investors in buildings to be concerned about the durability of the buildings they are funding, warning that in earthquake, substandard buildings had been the major cause of high death toll. It regretted that there is no National Building Code in existence in the country.

    It warned that Nigeria could not afford to repeat the mistake of Haiti and Nepal, where stringent building regulations are lacking, thereby aggravating the effects of earthquakes on buildings.

  • JAMB plans more examination centres in Diaspora

    JAMB plans more examination centres in Diaspora

    The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has said it will set up more examination centres in the Diaspora to cater for candidates willing to study in Nigeria.

    JAMB’s Head of Media and Information Dr Fabian Benjamin spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday, in Lagos.

    According to him, the board will ensure more candidates get an opportunity to sit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) within and outside the country.

    He said this would also ensure that the examination was brought closer to candidates with the constraints of coming down to Nigeria to sit for the examination.

    “We have plans of conducting this examination in more foreign countries, such as the United States, and others.

    “We are working with the embassies of such countries, which are our contacts for the project.

    “The possibility of getting this actualised depends on how fast they are able to transact the arrangement and the level of sensitisation.

    “On our part, we are ready. All it takes to conduct the examination successfully are on ground,” he told NAN.

    NAN reports that the board also conducted the 2016 Computer-Based Test (CBT) in eight countries.

    It presently conducts its examination in Cameroun, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Ghana, Republic of Benin and others.

  • ITF, NAC to establish automotive training centres

    ITF, NAC to establish automotive training centres

    The Industrial Training Fund (ITF), has started discussion with National Automotive Council NAC to establish National Automotive Parts Manufacturing and Training Centres as part of its skills acquisition programme, the Acting Director-General, Dickson Onuoha, has said.

    Onuoha, who addressed the press yestrday in Abuja, said apart from conserving foreign exchange that is expended on the importation of auto parts, the centres will ensure that needed auto parts are produced in the country.

    He said youths will also be trained for employment in the automobile parts’ manufacturing sector of the economy, adding that the fund is also working on the expansion of facilities at existing skills centres in Ikeja, Kano and Abuja.

    “At the model skills training centre in Abuja, adequate  provision has been made in 2016 budget to acquire the remaining complement of equipment required to graduate all trainees at the centre and admit new ones.

    “The Fund is also fast-tracking plans to commence the long term skills training programme at Industrial Skills Training Centre (ISTC), Kano while arrangements are in top gear to commission the mechatronic and mechanical workshop that have been built in the centre.