The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Damaturu

  • Residents take self-imposed leave to welcome Buhari in Yobe

    Some residents in Damaturu have taken a day leave to receive President Muhammadu Buhari of All Progressives Congress (APC) who is on a presidential campaign visit to the Yobe capital on Monday.

    The residents, who spoke to News Agency of Nigeria on Monday, said the one-day leave would afford them the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the president while in the state.

    Alhaji Aliyu Mustapha, a provision seller at Bayan Tasha Business Centre, said he had locked his shop until after the president’s visit.

    “I am going to the main road where he will be passing through so that I can catch a glimpse of the president,” he said.

    Habu Habibu, an electric materials dealer, said: “today we are on a self-declared holiday to welcome the president until after the visit.”

    “Everyone on our street has closed his shop to welcome the president; we are so proud of him to have restored relative peace to the Northeast,” he said.

    Mohammed AbdulRahman of Zanna Zakariya Housing Estate, said: “we will support and re-elect Buhari for a second term for providing more dividends of democracy.”

    Read Also; Buhari campaign train arrives Maiduguri

    Meanwhile, security operatives have been deployed to all strategic locations in the metropolis to ensure safety and peace throughout the visit.

    NAN reports that there was no official declaration of a public holiday by the state government, but most of the state civil servants have not been to work, while most schools and business centres are closed.

    Some streets were cleaned, while the Damaturu Stadium, the venue of the campaign, was given a facelift as part of the preparation for the President’s visit.

  • N11bn Yobe cargo airport ready in five months-Shettima

    The Commissioner for Works in Yobe, Alhaji Lawan Shettima, on Thursday, said that the state’s N11.3 billion cargo airport would be completed in the next five months.

    The commissioner made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Damaturu.

    He gave the assurance that the airport contract awarded in September 2017 would be completed before the expiration of Governor Ibrahim Gaidam’s administration.

    “In spite of the additional works introduced in the project, work has reached 67 per cent completion.

    “The runway has reached 55 per cent, access road, 56 per cent; gate house, 73 per cent; and gauge wire fence of the entire airport, 100 per cent, just as the terminal has reached advanced stage,” Shettima said.

    According to the commissioner, the runway was extended from 3.1km to 4.1km and a round beam introduced to the terminal building, while the control tower was expanded with advice from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority.

    Read Also: Ekiti APC slams Fayose for supervising ‘decay’ of utilities

    “The additional work will cost the state government another N4.3 billion, and the contractors said they would commence installation of the equipment by January 2019,” Shettima said.

    He said that the ministry had been adequately supervising the project to ensure quality work.

    “The parking bay at the airport fire service station has also been increased from two to three to accommodate additional fire fighting vehicles.

    “The state government has adequate funds to service completion of the project; in fact, government has opened a dedicated account for the airport project.

    “It is another project very close to the governor’s heart; he wants it completed in time,” he said.

  • New harvests crash prices of foodstuff in Yobe

    Prices of foodstuff have crumbled in Yobe  as farmers in the state commenced the harvesting of their produce.

    Our reporter’s checks revealed that a bag of millet which used to sell between N11, 000 and N12, 000 is now sold between N6, 500 and N7,000.

    Malam Hassan Umar, a grain dealer in Gashua, said the new harvests had crashed the price of millet which is the staple food of the people.

    ‘‘Last week a bag of newly harvested millet was sold at N8,000 as against N10,000 three weeks ago, but it dropped to N6,000 at the Ngalda market this week.’’

    Read Also:Yobe North : ‘My bills will focus on poverty alleviation’

    He said the old stock, because of the high demand for it, was still sold at N8, 000.

    Musa Kabiru, another grain merchant in Damaturu, said the price was expected to crash further before stabilising at N5, 000 per bag.

    Meanwhile, farmers who spoke to our reporter in Damaturu, Bursari and Bade Local Government Areas, are celebrating the bumper harvests.

    Abba Usman, a farmer in Dapchi, said the harvests this season were very good and with high yields.

    ‘‘Unlike last year when the rains stopped early, the rains have been excellent this year, it’s still raining even when the crops are mature,’’ he said.

    Bukar Mohammed, another farmer, said there are possibilities of harvesting more beans and groundnuts far more than what was obtained in the 2017 season.

  • Yobe APC divided over Gaidam’s choice of successor

    …aspirant call for level playing ground, power rotation

     

    The soul of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Yobe state is no longer intact over the choice of Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam to anoint Alhaji Mai Mala Buni, the National Secretary of the party.

    Despites the decision of the APC Critical stakeholders meeting in the state that mandated Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam to absolutely hand-pick the governorship candidate of the party come 2019 general election, another aspirant, Ibrahim Bomoi on Sunday stormed Damaturu amidst thousands of his supporters to commission his campaign office ahead of the primary elections of the party.

    Read Also:Gaidam picks Buni as APC governorship candidate for Yobe

    The former Director of Treasury of the Federal Capital Development Authority was greeted with a huge number of supporters in Damaturu which caused a gridlock along the Damaturu/Kano/Maiduguri highway where his office is located.

    Fielding questions from journalists at the event, the Director of Bomoi Campaign Organization in Zone B, Alhaji Salleh Jauro called for power shift from Zone A which he said has enjoyed more political patronage in the state than any zone having ruled the state for more than twenty years.

    Jauro also condemned the action of Gov. Gaidam for coming public to anoint a candidate to succeed him instead of providing a level playing ground for the aspirants at the contest.

    He also disclosed that both Zone A and Zone B have teamed up to break the political hegemony that the Kanuris have enjoyed in the state, while calling for the total rejection of the Gov. Gaidam’s choice of Mai Mala Buni as the candidate for the party.

    “It is morally wrong for Ibrahim Gaidam to choose any body from Zone A which is his zone to be governor of Yobe State again. This is a zone that has enjoyed more political patronage than any other zone in the state.  The APC National Secretary was zoned to Northeast and down to Yobe and Borno, Bonor gave it to Yobe and Ibrahim Gaidam gave it to Zone A, the minister is from zone A, the ambassador is from zone A. Zone A has ruled Yobe for twenty years now and Ibrahim Gaidam will now pick a governor from Zone A and from Gujba again where Bukar ruled for more than ten years. This is unacceptable. Gov. Gaidam should have shown justice by allowing Zone B to complete the tenure of their son Late Mamman Ali who appointed him deputy and ruled for eighteen months before he died. After zone B, then we would have handed the governorship to Zone C in the spirit of rotation,” Jauro said.

    On whether they would leave the party, Alh. Jauro said, “there is no question of leaving the party. We are going to stay inside and ensure victory on our side. It is Allah that gives power and we believe in Allah and by His grace our candidate Ibrahim Bomoi will emerge victorious”.

  • Yobe APC mandates Gaidam to anoint his successor

    The Yobe State Chapter of the All Progressive Congress (APC) has mandated Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam to anoint his successor for the 2019 election.

    Gov. Gaidam will be serving out his mandatory second term as governor having taken over from Late Mamman Ali and elected twice as governor.

    The decision was taken at an extended critical stakeholders meeting at the WAWA Hall of government House Damaturu.

    The meeting also endorsed Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam as candidate for the Yobe East Senatorial district for the coming election as well as President Mohamadu Buhari as the presidential candidate of the party.

    This decision has pinched Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam against former Gov. Bukar Abba Ibrahim who is currently occupying the seat from the same political party, the APC.

    Read Also: Niger approves N60m relief package for flood victims

    In the communiqué signed by the Chairman of the Meeting, Engr. Abubakar Aliyu who is also the Deputy Governor of the state and the Secretary Idi Barde Gubana resolved as follow:

    Ø Unanimously adopts President Muhamadu Buhari(GCFR) as our party candidate in the forthcoming 2019 Presidential Election in Nigeria

    Ø The meeting also resolve to adopt consensus and where necessary indirect mode of nominating candidates to all elective positions under our great party(APC) in Yobe State

    Ø The meeting further resolves that a discretion is given to HE Alh. (Dr.) Ibrahim Gaidam to present a competent and acceptable person as the Gubernatorial Flag bearer of our great party(APC) in the forthcoming 2019 general elections for our dear state

    Ø The stakeholders from Yobe East Senatorial District equally, unanimously resolves that H.E Alh. (Dr.) Ibrahim Gaidam be the senatorial Candidate for the 2019 senatorial election.

    The meeting was attended by members of Commissioners and other members of the state executive council, members of the National Assembly from the state including the senate leader, Dr. Ahmed Lawan, Hon. Goni Bukar, Hon. Abdu Gulani, Hon. Samaila Gadaka.

    The Minister of State foreign Affairs and wife of former governor and current senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim, Hon. Khadija Abba Ibrahim was also in attendance.

    Sen. Bukar Abba Ibrahim and Hon. Yakubu Sidi Karasuwa were however absent at the meeting.

  • Yobe farmers optimistic of bumper harvests

    Some farmers in Yobe have expressed optimism about the probability of recording bumper harvests this year.

    They made their feelings known in an interview with a Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria in Damaturu on Monday, just as they commence harvesting of their produce.

    Malam Abba Umar, a farmer in Damaturu, said that he had started harvesting, alongside other farmers at Sindiri village in the state.

    “Some of us who commenced planting earlier than others are now harvesting, while those who planted late will wait a little while.

    “The yields from the ongoing harvests are quite promising and unlike what happened last year, we are all celebrating,” he said.

    Modu Mustapha, a civil servant who engages in subsistence farming in Katarko village, Yobe, said that the rains had been steady and good for the crops.

    “The rain this year has been steady, unlike last year when most farms dried up because it stopped abruptly without the grains maturing.

    “Last year, it was very bad for beans and groundnut farmers, as they recorded poor yield, but the signs are better this year,” he said.

    Mustapha, however, appealed to the state government to provide farm inputs to farmers in good time, to boost production.

    Kolo Gaji, another farmer based in Dapchi town of Bursari Local Government Area of the state, said that the steady rains had protected the crops from the menace of pests and insects.

    “When the rain is low, as was the case last year, the pests fed on the crops and this resulted in poor harvests, but the steady rain this year has kept the pests away, and we are expecting very good harvests,” he said.

    NAN reports that millet, sorghum, rice, beans, groundnut and sesame seeds are the common crops cultivated across the state.

  • Yobe cheap fertilizer: Local govt commence distribution of product

    … commissioner denies huge allocations to high govt officials

     

    Investigation has revealed that almost all the 17 local government have received the quantity of fertilizer allocated to them by the state ministry of Agriculture less than 48 hours after the product was launched by Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam in Damaturu on Monday.

    Each of the 17 local governments was allocated six trucks of six hundred bags of the product amounting to a total of 3,600 bags per local government.

    The Nation recalled that Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam had lunched the 2018 fertilizer sales and distribution in Damaturu on Monday 13/08/2018 where he cut down the price for N3,000 as against the N8,000 current market value.

    Both the chairmen of Geidam, Nguru, Potiskum  have confirmed that the product had reached their headquarters before it was launched in Damaturu.

    According to the Chairman Geidam Local Government, the council has already commenced  the distribution of the product to farmers at the ward level to enable administer on their farms without delay.

    In another development, the commissioner for Agric in the State Engr. Mustapha Gajerima has denied rumors that more allocation was given to top government officials rather than the ordinary farmers in the state.

    The commissioner told our correspondent that “ anyone with such claims should come to my office and verify his claim. These are unsubstantiated rumour that usually come up at times like this.

    “What I can tell you is that we don’t take such rumours for granted especially if the people are coming to talk to you the press people. We are going to investigate the matter but I assure you nothing of such has been brought to my notice,” Engr. Gajerima informed.

    Read Also: Yobe cuts down fertilizer price for farming season

    The commissioner however admitted that “fertilizer is allocated to every government official but saying that the local farmers are being short-changed for top government official is not truth”.

    The Nation reports that Governor Ibrahim Gaidam at the lunching of the product in the state for the 2018 cropping season slashed down the price from N8000 to N3000 for farmers in the state.

    According to the governor, government should not be a money making venture but rather ameliorate the suffering of the people hence the subsidy on the product.

    He noted that the subsidy will give every Yobe farmer the opportunity to afford the product having suffered from the challenges of Boko Haram insurgency.

    Gov. Gaidam noted that with the heavy subsidy of the product is a strategy by his administration to ensure food security in the state since agriculture is the mainstay of the people of the state.

    “Consequent upon the state executive  council meeting of 5th July, 2018, we  approved the sum of N1,468,800,000.00 to procure 8,640 metric tons of 15-15-15 NPK fertilizer and make it available to our farmers for 2018 cropping season”

    “Though the price of fertilizer has gone up, but due to our commitment to the promotion of agricultural activities in our dear state, we have resolved to approved the sales  of a bag of fertilizer at a subsidized  rate of N3,000.00 per bag”,  Gaidam ordered.

    The governor called on farmers to make good use of the product and should not be tempted by the antics of middlemen who may entice them with the promise of buying it at more than the official approved price.

    Each of the seventeen local government councils of the state got an allocation of 3,600 bags with strong warning to the taskforce committee that the products be sold to genuine farmers.

  • Boko Haram: Yobe closes last IDP camp

    Yobe State Government has closed down the last Internally Displaced Persons Camp, ‘Popomari IDP Camp’ in the state.

    Located at a primary school in  Pompomari within Damaturu metropolis, the camp initially had a population of  4, 211 people at the time it was established but the population was reduced to 1,314 after over 2,897  voluntarily left the camp to pursue their livelihoods.

    The Permanent Secretary, Yobe State Emergency Management Agency, Idi Musa Jidawa at the closing ceremony said the people voluntarily wrote to government to vacate the camp and return back to their communities.

    Read Also:Army arrests Boko Haram fuel suppliers

    The Yobe SEMA boss also disclosed that the State government has expended over N140 million for the establishment and take off of the camp, feeding and medical treatment of the IDPs at the camp since its establishment.

    He announced that the state government earmarked for the distribution of 743 bags of 50kg rice, 596 jerry cans of 25 litres vegetable oil, 541 cartons of tomato paste, 370 cartoons of bathing soap, 1000 pieces of mosquito nets, 1,272 pieces of nylon mats, 60 bales of used clothes and a cash assistance of N9, 110, 00 million to the 318 heads of household depending on family size.

    He also disclosed that a total of 42 marriages were contracted within the period in the camp with a total of 195 healthy babies born with 26 dead.

    Investigation however revealed most of the returning are not returning back to their ancestral communities as the security situation in the areas have not improved but have rather chosen to stay wherever they wanted.

    Some of the IDPs who spoke to our correspondent were happy for leaving the camp after three years and three months.

    We can’t continue to live on handouts from government. They have tried for us. We need to go back and start our lives as the rainy season is at hand, Modu Abdullahi from Abiya Tasha said.

    The returnees are mostly from Gujba Local Government from different communities like, Ambiya Kura, Ambiya Bulabullin, Ambiya Tasha, Sharfuri, Shangamari and Turo Kura.

  • FG tasks stakeholders on sanitation facilities in Yobe schools, IDPs camps

    Alhaji Muhammad Bukar, Director, Water Supply, Ministry of Water Resources, Yobe, has called on all stakeholders to help in the construction of sanitation facilities in public places and schools in the state.

    Bukar made this call when the Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Emergency Working Group visited the state on Thursday in Damaturu, Yobe.

    He said the state was in dire need of these facilities to provide succour for the population displaced due to insurgency.

    According to him, a huge number of schools have been merged with little or no access to sanitation facilities, saying the state government cannot do it alone.

    He noted that the schools were congested with some population as high as 6,000 students lacking access to toilets and hand washing facilities.

    “The challenge is higher in the female institutions, they are handicapped, Government Girls in Damaturu, Gazarma, Potiskum, Fika and others are congested secondary schools with little facilities for sanitation.

    “If you can complement our efforts by diverting some of the Federal Government’s project to those places, it will be nice, because these five schools were merged and housed in one place, and the population is more than 6,000, it’s too much, we need support.”

    Bukar said that returning communities also needed to have access to water and sanitation facilities in place to forestall an outbreak of diseases.

    Read Also: Nasarawa, Yobe, Cross River pay highest price for kerosene in March

    The director listed Gulani, Gujba, Damaturu, Tarmuwa, Geidam, Yunusari and Fika as communities in need of immediate interventions, saying although development partners such as UNICEF provided two boreholes, but was presently overstretched as population had increased.

    He said the state government was focused on awareness creation for hygiene promotion in camps to prevent an outbreak of diseases and overall health promotion, saying this was obvious with the monthly dislodging of from waste from the toilets.

    He said the Pompomari IDP camp was being completely monitored though deliberate provision of water and sanitation facilities, adding that the population was high and congested.

    “Initially, the population was over 5,000, the state government provided borehole before insurgency, but when insurgency was high, the facility became overstretched.

    “Now, two boreholes have been added and reticulated to the clinic, primary school, development partners also came to the aid of the state,” he said.

    The WASH in Emergency Group is working to see that Humanitarian responses, especially in the North East reach its target population.

     

  • Released Dapchi girls moved to theater command in Maiduguri

    The released Dapchi Girls have been moved to the Theatre Command of Operation Lafiaya Dole, in Maiduguri.

    The girls were ferried out of Dapchi in a heavy military convoy led by the GOC 3 Division, Nigerian Army Army, Maj. General Ahanatu to the theatre command in Maiduguri.

    Our correspondent sighted the large military convoy at the Mega Station in Damaturu comprising of over 20 vehicles as they stopped to refuel and the girls were given refreshment.

    Journalists were prevented from taking pictures of the girls or talking to any of the girls or the parents as the convoy hurriedly left with the girls to Maiduguri.

    The Chairman of the Forum of parents of the Misssing Girls Bashir Manzo also informed that he was in the convoy heading to Maiduguri with the girls when our correspondent contacted him.

    Read Also: #BBOG to interrogate circumstances of Dapchi girls release

    Asked on the number of girls that were been taking to Maiduguri, Alhaji Bashir said he cannot categorically tell the number as they were hurriedly asked to leave Dapchi for Maiduguri.

    “We were trying to get the exact number of the girls when the military came and we hurriedly left Dapchi. As it is now, I can only tell you the number by the time we get to Maiduguri”, Manzo informed.