The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Committee

  • Jonathan orders submission of Ribadu committee’s report

    Jonathan orders submission of Ribadu committee’s report

    President Goodluck Jonathan has directed that a comprehensive report of the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force chaired by Malam Nuhu Ribadu, be presented to him this week.

    The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, stated this in a statement issued in Abuja on Monday.

    Abati said the directive was in furtherance of the administration’s commitment to transparency in the petroleum sector.

    The Special Adviser said the presentation of the committee’s report would take place on Friday, November 2, at 11 am, at the State House, Abuja.

    The News Agency of nigeria (NAN) reports that the committee was set up in February to, among other tasks, to verify all petroleum upstream and downstream revenues (taxes and royalties) due and payable to the Federal Government.

    It was also mandated to take all necessary steps to collect all debts due and owed, and to obtain agreements and enforce payment terms by oil industry operators.

     

  • Oyo council gets ACN caretaker committee

    A seven-man Caretaker Committee has been inaugurated to manage the affairs of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Egbeda Local Government Area of Oyo State.

    The Committee’s Chairman is Deacon Segun Oyediran and Alhaji Dauda Bashiru is the Secretary.

    Members of the committee include Maj. Opawale (rtd.), Alhaja Zainab Juwon, Mr. K. Obisesan, Mr. Mufutau Oyewo, Mr. Mathew Akinwalere, Mr. Nafiu Kamilu and Mr. Fatai Akinsanmi.

    The former executives were suspended by the ACN State Executives to allow for equal representation and better organisation of the party in the council.

    The inauguration was attended by the party’s leaders in the council, including Prince Fatunbi, Apostle Falade, Ahaji Babatunde Ismaila, Alhaji Ganiyu Alade, Mrs. Dele Akinwale and Mrs. Tijani Comfort.

    At the ceremony, the ACN State Chairman, Chief Akin Oke, hailed members for handling the incident that led to the suspension of the former party executive with maturity.

    He said: “Our great party is very unique when it comes to party formation, organisation and administration. The party undertook a series of reforms to give members at the grassroots more roles in the selection of candidates and leadership to create a sense of belonging.”

    Oyediran urged members to support his committee and pledged to effectively implement the party’s programmes and policies.

  • Keshi to meet NFF’s Technical Committee

    Keshi to meet NFF’s Technical Committee

    The parley between the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF)’s Technical Sub Committee and the Head Coach of the Super Eagles, Stephen Okechukwu Keshi is expected to kick start the nation’s preparation for the next January Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), a top official has revealed.

    The Super Eagles were drawn in a Group C comprising the reigning Champions, Chipolopolo of Zambia, the Stallions of Burkina Faso and the Walyas Antelopes of Ethiopia in the draw held in Durban, South Africa on Wednesday.

    In a telephone chat with the NFF’s Chief Media Officer, Demola Olajire shortly after the draws he disclosed that all reports on the campsite and preparations of the Eagles for the AFCON were mere rumours as nothing yet has been concluded.

    He stressed that there would be a meeting between the NFF’s Technical Sub Committee and the Eagles’ boss in the coming days to chart the way forward for the senior national team ahead of the 2013 Nations Cup.

    Olajire said: “Everything is on hold until the Head Coach (Keshi) comes back and until there is a meeting between him and the Technical Sub Committee. The NFF has not decided on anything now. No arrangement has been made on the programme of the Eagles but in days to come they will be made public after their meeting.”

    Nigeria is seeking third crown in AFCON tourney after the triumphs at home in 1980 and 1994 in Tunisia where the current Eagles boss was then captain that lifted the cup after a 2-1 win over stubborn Zambia in Tunis.

  • Police seal off market as committee members’, traders’ clash in Anambra

    The Anambra State Police Command yesterday sealed off Eke-Awka Market in Awka, the state capital.

    The action followed a clash between members of the Amalgamated Traders Association (AMATA) and the caretaker committee recently inaugurated by the state government.

    It was learnt that the caretaker committee members wanted to hold a rally to announce their assumption of office but the traders resisted this.

    The committee, led by Charles Arinze, held its ground and held the rally.

    This led to shootings between both camps.

    Though nobody was injured, the confusion that followed the shootings forced many traders to close their shops early.

    The police deployed 30 of its men to the market and sealed it off.

    Police spokesman Raphael Uzoigwe confirmed the incident.

    He said the police had restored order in the market.

    Uzoigwe said the command deployed it men to the market to avoid a breakdown of law and order.

    According to him, the duty of the police is to protect lives and property.

    The police spokesman, however, denied an exchange of gunfire between both camps.

    He said the story would have been different if the police had not arrived early on the scene.

    The caretaker committee, it was learnt, was inaugurated by the government to ensure peace in the market, following a clash in which one person was reportedly killed.

     

  • Floods: Anambra committee denies rape at camps

    The Anambra State Committee on Flood Victims yesterday denied a report that Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) were being raped in the 25 camps.

    The committee, which is headed by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Oselloka Obaze, also denied a rumour that robbers invaded the camps to steal the relief materials donated by some individuals and corporate organisations.

    At a joint media briefing in Awka, the state capital, the Commissioner for Local Governments, Lady Azuka Enemuo said the claims were baseless and unfounded.

    She said: “We have put in place a solid machinery to protect life and property at the camps created by the Peter Obi administration. Those things happened elsewhere and not in Anambra.

    The Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Prof Chinyere Okunna, warned against politicising the donation and distribution of the materials.

    The commissioner explained that Obi continuously appealed to the donors to channel their materials to the government for equitable distribution.

    She said the committee comprises the State Executive Council (Exco) members and clerics.

    Prof Okunna said the committee has been meeting daily to appraise the situation at the camps, adding that two of the eight local government areas affected were submerged.

    Those submerged are Ogbaru and Anambra West.

    Enemuo said the government had spent over N40million on the evacuation of the IDPs, adding that this covered the running of daily activities in the camps.

    The Commissioner for Women’s Affairs and Social Development Lady Henrietta Agbata said more materials were being expected.

    The commissioner said her ministry had sent letters to church leaders in the state for assistance.

    The church leaders, according to her, were outside the flooded areas.

    She added that similar letters had been sent to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and corporate organizations.

    The SEMA state Coordinator, Dr Nwabufo Ijezie, said five people had been confirmed dead in the floods.

    He said Anambra State did not record high causalities because of the proactive measures the state took.

    The committee yesterday received more relief materials from Chief John Udeagbala, who is based in Aba, Abia State.

    The representative of the donor, Innocent Udeagbala, said the materials were brought to rehabilitate the IDPs.

    He urged other well-meaning residents to assist the flood victims and commended Governor Peter Obi for what he had done in the state.

  • Anti-tobacco committee urged to enforce law

    Anti-tobacco committee urged to enforce law

    The Ministerial Committee on the Ban on Public Smoking in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has been urged to enforce the law.

    This was the position of chairmen of the six area councils of the FCT at the 2012 Stakeholders’ Forum on the ban on tobacco smoking in public places in the FCT, held in Abuja.

    Speaking on behalf of the chairmen, Kuje Area Council chairman, Hon. Danladi Etsu Zhin, said if erring smokers are arrested and prosecuted, it would deter others from engaging in the act.

    “The committees should start enforcing the ban on non-smoking in the public places and if some are arrested and prosecuted, it will now serve as deterrent to others. The media also has a lot to do in carrying across this message,” he said.

    He condemned the act saying, “one doesn’t need to be told that tobacco smoking is dangerous to his or her health. If you feel it is necessary to smoke, don’t cause any hazards to those who don’t want to smoke. You have to find a hideout where you can do that”.

    He advised students from various schools in the FCT who attended the meeting to shun tobacco smoking to avoid the unpleasant effect to their health.

    “Don’t even go into it at all because it has nothing to contribute to your health, so why should you go into it in the first place?” he asked.

    He also charged them to take the message to their friends, just as he pledged the commitment of council chairmen to sustain the campaign in their domains.

    In her welcome address, the Secretary, Social Development Secretariat of the FCT, Mrs Blessing Onuh said the forum was part of the strategy of the FCT administration to consolidate and strengthen the campaign against cigarette smoking in public places within the FCT.

    She said the forum was to enable “us to put heads together to see how best to reduce the use of tobacco to its barest minimum in the FCT”.

    According to her, the secretariat has been able to sustain its enlightenment campaigns through the sponsorship of TV and radio campaigns.

    “Since the start of this campaign in 2008, it has yielded positive results most especially in the city centres where our activities are focused.

    “We have equally continued to interface with relevant stakeholders with a view to forging an effective synergy in the campaign. Perhaps one of our greatest successes is in reaching out to youths at the secondary school level,” she said.

    The meeting was attended by representatives of hotel owners, restaurant operators, night club sponsors, parks operators, transport workers, airport management, schools, security and other law enforcement agencies.

  • Relief committee to tour flood areas

    President Goodluck Jonathan will begin a tour of flood-ravaged communities today after the inauguration of the National Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation.

    He is also billed to visit the various relief camps created for victims across the country.

    The President raised the committee as part of Federal Government’s intervention to bring succour and relief to flood victims.

    In a statement, the President’s spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, said the inauguration would hold at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, shortly after which his boss is expected to begin the tour of affected states.

  • ‘Fafunwa Educational Foundation promotes academic excellence’

    ‘Fafunwa Educational Foundation promotes academic excellence’

    The Fafunwa Educational Foundation was established to promote academic excellence and raise the standard of edu
    cation in the country,Chairperson of the Local Organising Committee of the foundation, Dr. (Mrs.)Pat Akumabor, has said.
     Briefing reporters in Lagos ahead of  the 16th edition of the foundation’s lecture and indigenous languages awards,Dr.Akumabor said the late Prof. Babs Fafunwa,  a former Minister of Education, had a passion for educational development and  contributed a lot to the advancement of education in Nigeria.
    “Prof. Fafunwa was the architect of the 6-3-3-4 educational system. He believed that it is ideal that at the primary school level, mother tongue should be used to teach pupils, to make learning easy.
    “We don’t want the legacy he bequeathed to us to die. We want his dream of academic excellence in Nigeria to be realised. That was why the foundation was established.
    “For the past 15 years, we have been organising lectures yearly on education and giving indigenous languages awards to the three best PhD students selected from the University of Lagos, University of Ibadan,  Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and Lagos State University, Ojo,” Dr. Akumabor said.
    The Secretary of the foundation, Mr. Muyiwa Obiyomi, said the topic of this year’s lecture is, “Entrepreneurship Education: Repositioning Nigerian Education for National Transformation”.
    The event is scheduled for   September 25 at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island, Lagos with Prof. Pat Utomi of the Lagos Business School as the guest of honour,  Dr. Okey Anueyiagu, an Economist as chairman  and Education Minister, Prof. Ruquayyat Ahmed Rufai, as the Special guest of nohour. The winner of the indigenous awards will go home with N500,000.