The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Deputy Governor

  • Ekiti Deputy Governor to contractors: no pay for shoddy jobs

    Ekiti Deputy Governor to contractors: no pay for shoddy jobs

    Contractors handling projects for the Ekiti State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) will forfeit their pay if they do shoddy jobs.

    “We won’t certify any sloppy job for payment,” Deputy Governor Prof Modupe Adelabu said at the opening of a stakeholders’ meeting and a technical session organised for contractors  in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital at the weekend.

    Besides, the contractors were warned against compromising the independent monitors mandated to ensure that projects assigned to them are implemented to specification, failing which they risk prosecution

    Any SUBEB official found to have undermined the government by certifying shoddy jobs for payment will be liable, Mrs Adelabu said.

    She also spoke of government’s resolve to complete most of the on-going projects, especially those identified as Legacy Projects.

    Some of the Legacy Projects include the Civic Centre, the Oke Ayaba Government House and the State Pavillion on the New Iyin-Ekiti Road.

    She urged contractors to be thorough in the implementation of contracts even as they strive to deliver on schedule without compromising on standard.

    She restated that no official under the Governor Kayode Fayemi-led administration has interest in taking any percentage of the contract sum as bribe.

    Mrs. Adelabu urged the contractors against bribing officials to overlook poorly implemented projects and advised them to report any official demanding bribe from them.

    Her words: “Use your money to do the job you handle and give us quality job. We are more interested in a quality work done to specification as we don’t want to experience any incident of building collapse in the state.”

    Two contractors, Messer Ajayi Micheal Ojo and Isaac Idowu spoke for their colleagues. They described the meeting as timely as it offered a platform for the stakeholders (SUBEB management of and contractors) to interface.

    They also raised some of their challenges, even as they thanked the government for the patronage.

    Speaking to reporters, Head of Physical Planning Unit (PPU), Mr. Kunle Ehinafe, listed some of the projects.

    According to him, they include: the construction of Crèche; six classrooms (storey building and bungalow); three classrooms without office and perimeter fencing of schools.

    Others are: the construction of four VIP toilets; renovation of blocks of classrooms, fabrication and supply of pupils’ desks and benches, procurement and supply of nursery furniture and fabrication and supply of lockers and chairs.

    He said the contract period ranges between three and six months depending on the nature of the project.

    Speaking while inspecting the ECEDC in Ikere-Ekiti, Mrs. Adelabu said the centre was one of three ultra-modern mega edifices built in the three senatorial districts by the government of  Fayemi administration to give toddlers in the stat a good educational head-start in life.

    The centres are located in Ado-Ekiti (Central), Ikere-Ekiti (South) and Ikole-Ekiti (North).

    She expressed satisfaction with the quality and level of work done so far at the centre and urged the contractors expedite action on its completion, assuring that the centre will be equipped with the state-of-the art facilities preparatory to its take-off for the 2014/2015 academic session.

    Prof. Adelabu also urged residents to take advantage of the facility by enrolling their kids as the centre was not designed for the privileged, pointing out the government remained committed to the provision of free, compulsory and qualitative education.

  • Generator fumes: Abia promises to pay victims’ bills

    Generator fumes: Abia promises to pay victims’ bills

    Abia State government has promised to pay the hospital bills of the 15 persons, who survived Saturday’s generator fumes incident in Aba.

    The survivors are members of the Young Peoples Christian Fellowship, an inter-denominational fellowship of believers from Ututu Arochukwu. They inhaled carbon mono-oxide from the generator placed at the corridor of the church.

    Deputy Governor Emeka Ananaba visited Austine Grace and Goodness and Mercies hospitals at Okigwe and Faulks Road at the weekend to sympathise with the victims.

    It was learnt that the deputy governor, who was touched by the victims’ health condition, through the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Okechukwu Ogah, sent an undisclosed amount of money to the doctors to start treatment.

    Of the 15 survivors (nine women and six men), 11 are hospitalised at Austine Grace Hospital and four are at Goodness and Mercies Hospital.

    The doctors said the victims were responding to treatment, adding that they would survive the suffocation. At press time, a five- year old boy, whose parents were said to be unconscious, was confirmed dead.

    Aba residents have hailed the police and the management of the hospitals for their prompt action.

  • Rulers move to save Enugu deputy governor

    Rulers move to save Enugu deputy governor

    •Onyebuchi gets notice 

    Traditional rulers in Nkanu land yesterday attempted to save Enugu State Deputy Governor Sunday Onyebuchi from being impeached.

    The monarchs visited the Government House, Enugu where they met Governor Sullivan Chime.

    A source said they interceded on behalf of the embattled deputy governor, begging the governor to intervene.

    The source said the royal fathers told the governor that their son had shown remorse and assured him that he would not disobey his directives again.

    Chime, however, reportedly told the monarchs that he wished he could intervene in the matter.

    He said it was beyond his power, as the matter was a legislative issue, saying: “The executive does not interfere in the functions of the legislature.”

    The deputy governor was served the notice of impeachment yesterday.

    The Assembly on Tuesday began an impeachment process against Onyebuchi, alleging gross misconduct.

    Moving a motion for the notice, the Leader, S.K.E. Udeh Okoye, representing Awgu North, said they were exercising the power vested by Section 188(1)–(9) of the 1999 Constitution.

    Allegations of abuse of office and disobedience to the lawful directives of the governor were brought against the deputy governor.

  • Man arrested for ‘insulting Deputy Governor’

    Man arrested for ‘insulting Deputy Governor’

    Police in Kogi State have arrested a 26-year-old man, Olaiya Ibeun, for allegedly sending insulting text messages to the Deputy Governor, Yomi Awoniyi.

    The suspect, who was paraded in Lokoja yesterday, was also accused of sending similar messages to the Chairman of Mopa-Muro Local Government, Funsho Daniyan and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Political Affairs, Eric Fiki.

    Commissioner of Police Saidu Madawaki told reporters that the suspect had been maligning and insulting his victims with intent to extort money from them.

    Madawaki said Ibeun was arrested with the help of a woman, who he used her bank account to extort money from the victims.

    He said the woman was arrested by policemen, who had been stationed at a bank in Lokoja, the state capital.

    “She was arrested by the police while attempting to collect the money for Ibeun the second time. The woman confessed that she was sent by the suspect, who was arrested in Kaduna.”

    Madawaki said the police action followed a report by Fiki that an unknown person with the phone number +224811331529 had been sending messages, asking him to send money into an account.

    He said the suspects would soon be charged to court.

  • Deputy Governor Umar betrayed us, says Suntai’s aide

    The Senior Special Assistant to Governor Danbaba Suntai on Media and Publicity, Mr. Sylvanus Giwa, yesterday said the governor and other residents have lost the confidence they reposed in Deputy Governor Garba Umar.

    Giwa was reacting to Umar’s statement on Tuesday that he is 100 per cent loyal to Suntai and would not undermine the governor’s authority.

    In a statement yesterday in Jalingo, the state capital, the governor’s aide said he had lost the respect he used to have for the acting governor.

    He said: “His (Umar’s) activities are a direct opposite of what he keeps saying.

    “The deputy governor keeps talking of 100 per cent loyalty, but the reverse is the case: his people are in court against Governor Suntai.”

    Besides the allegation that Umar bribed the state lawmakers to transmit power to himself to continue to act, The Nation learnt that the deputy governor was also financing the lawyers defending House of Assembly Speaker Haruna Tsokwa and the Assembly in the suit Suntai filed against them.

    A former Commissioner for Information, Emmanuel Bello, on Wednesday, accused Umar of running an “illegal, criminal and parallel government”.

  • Ekiti: Fayemi nominates Adelabu as new deputy

    Ekiti: Fayemi nominates Adelabu as new deputy

    Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi has nominated the Chairperson of the State’s Universal Education Board (SUBEB), Professor ( Mrs) Modupe Adelabu as the new deputy governor of the state.

    Fayemi, in a letter dated 3 May 2013, addressed to the Speaker of the Assembly, Adewale Omirin, requested the House to consider Adelabu for the position of deputy governor,  to fill the vacancy  following the death of the former deputy governor, Funmilayo Olayinka  on 6 April 2013.

    Mrs Adelabu, a Professor of Education at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile –Ife, was Head of the Department of Education Administration and Planning of the institution before her appointment as Chairperson of Ekiti State SUBEB in July 2011.

     

  • Imo: Chief of Staff sworn-in as Deputy governor

    The former Chief of Staff to Imo state governor, Prince Eze Madumere has been sworn-in as the new Deputy Governor of the state.
    Madumere replaces Sir Jude Agbaso who was impeached during the week by the  State House of Assembly for allegedly  demanding as gratification from Mr. Joseph Dina, the Managing Director of JPROS Int’l Ltd, a Lebanese company handling some of the major road projects in the state.
    Governor Rochas Okorocha urged the new deputy governor to discharge his duties diligently and selflessly.
    He urged Madmere not to be found wanting in his new position advising that “For you to succeed in this job, you must think less of yourself and think more of the people. You must never think of the next election but the future of the next generation.

    “You must also hate the idea of primitive accumulation of wealth. Let me say to all of you that a day must come when all of us must bow before God; a day that need no EFCC, no Police and Army to stand on issue of accountability. So, be guided by the fear of God knowing that one day, this job will end”.
    The governor described the circumstance that led to the removal of the former deputy governor as unfortunate, adding that his relationship with Sir Jude Agbaso remains cordial.
    ” I have to miss the former deputy governor, Sir Jude Agbaso whom I worked with and whom I have very unique love for. The circumstances that led to his removal are very unfortunate and I want to use this opportunity to wish him well in his future endeavor”.
    Earlier in his speech, the new deputy governor promised to remain focused and committed to the doctrines of  the  Okorocha-led Rescue Mission administration.

  • Deputy Governor urges students on greatness

    Deputy Governor urges students on greatness

    Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire has urged students to dedicate themselves and challenge life to bring out the talent God has given them.

    Mrs Orelope-Adefulire gave the advice during her motivational speech at the programme organised by the Chief Whip of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Dr Abdurrazaq Balogun for senior secondary students in his Surulere 11 Constituency to mark his 43rd birthday. The event tagged: Bringing legislature and mentorship to the classroom’ and held at Aguda was to mark Balogun’s 43rd birthday.

    Mrs Orelope-Adefulire said: “Your parents have nurtured you and the government has created opportunities for you to take advantage of and become great in life. Nothing stops you from getting to the highest height but you must dedicate yourselves to your studies, be determined, have a focus today, start reading your books, ask questions if you don’t understand, that is the only way to get it right.

    “You must have passion for education and you must have ambition and work towards achieving your ambition. You must not nag or be proud. Be humble, responsible and abide by rules. Do not keep bad company; respect yourselves, parents, teachers and elders,” she said.

    Balogun told the students that it is only education, and not poverty alleviation programmes that can take one out of poverty.

    He advised them to stay focused and not be discouraged no matter the challenges confronting them today and that they should be ready to participate actively in the political process in the future so that good leaders can emerge.

    “You must continue to be obedient, our role is to continue to give you the best and ensure that the education sector continues to thrive,” he said.

    “I strongly believe it is only education that can take them to greater height. It is an opportunity to inspire and encourage them, talk to them about life so that they can excel in future and also drive it home to them the importance of exercising their civic responsibility in future”, he said.

    The lawmaker who assured that the event would henceforth be annual, used the occasion to give out prizes which included cash, books and school bags to two students each from three secondary schools who came first, second and third in the quiz competition he organised the previous day for the five senior secondary schools in the constituency.

    While Sanya Senior Grammar School, Ijesha Tedo came first, Jubilee Senior Model College came second and Ijesha Tedo Senior Secondary School came third. The other schools that participated in the competition are: Coker Senior Secondary School, Orile Iganmu and Aguda Senior Grammar School, Aguda.

  • Deputy Governor urges students on greatness

    Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire has urged students to dedicate themselves and challenge life to bring out the talent God has given them.

    Mrs Orelope-Adefulire gave the advice during her motivational speech at the programme organised by the Chief Whip of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Dr Abdurrazaq Balogun for senior secondary students in his Surulere 11 Constituency to mark his 43rd birthday. The event tagged: Bringing legislature and mentorship to the classroom’ and held at Aguda was to mark Balogun’s 43rd birthday.

    Mrs Orelope-Adefulire said: “Your parents have nurtured you and the government has created opportunities for you to take advantage of and become great in life. Nothing stops you from getting to the highest height but you must dedicate yourselves to your studies, be determined, have a focus today, start reading your books, ask questions if you don’t understand, that is the only way to get it right.

    “You must have passion for education and you must have ambition and work towards achieving your ambition. You must not nag or be proud. Be humble, responsible and abide by rules. Do not keep bad company; respect yourselves, parents, teachers and elders,” she said.

    Balogun told the students that it is only education, and not poverty alleviation programmes that can take one out of poverty.

    He advised them to stay focused and not be discouraged no matter the challenges confronting them today and that they should be ready to participate actively in the political process in the future so that good leaders can emerge.

    “You must continue to be obedient, our role is to continue to give you the best and ensure that the education sector continues to thrive,” he said.

    “I strongly believe it is only education that can take them to greater height. It is an opportunity to inspire and encourage them, talk to them about life so that they can excel in future and also drive it home to them the importance of exercising their civic responsibility in future”, he said.

    The lawmaker who assured that the event would henceforth be annual, used the occasion to give out prizes which included cash, books and school bags to two students each from three secondary schools who came first, second and third in the quiz competition he organised the previous day for the five senior secondary schools in the constituency.

    While Sanya Senior Grammar School, Ijesha Tedo came first, Jubilee Senior Model College came second and Ijesha Tedo Senior Secondary School came third. The other schools that participated in the competition are: Coker Senior Secondary School, Orile Iganmu and Aguda Senior Grammar School, Aguda.

     

  • Kaduna deputy governor sworn in

    Kaduna deputy governor sworn in

    Kaduna State Deputy Governor, Amb. Nuhu Audu Bajoga, was on Friday sworn in with a pledge from the state governor, Mukthar Ramalan Yero that nobody will be allowed to come between them.

    The deputy governor also promised to be loyal to his boss.

    The nomination of Bajoga, who was the state Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, was confirmed on Thursday at an emergency session of the state House of Assembly.

    Speaking at the occasion, Governor Yero said he selected Bajoga as his deputy because of his age and experience which will be for the overall benefit of the state.

    He expressed optimism that they will have a good working relationship.

    “I chose Ambassador Bajoga because of his age which will be for the benefit of the state. Because they said, age is experience and we are going to work together harmoniously for the betterment of the state.

    “I know the office of the Deputy Governor and I will do my best to improve on the way I left it”, he said.

    Governor Yero reiterated his determination to carry on with the three-point agenda of the late governor.

    These, according to him, are to ensure security, unity and development of the state.

    In his acceptance speech, Ambassador Bajoga, pledged his unalloyed loyalty to the governor and the people of Kaduna State, even as he appealed for patience over the circumstances the state found itself.