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Tag: Dr. Ali Ahmad

  • Kwara committee orders cut in Poly tuition fees

    Kwara committee orders cut in Poly tuition fees

    Kwara state Joint Executive-Legislative Committee on alleged hike in the tuition fees of the Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin, has recommended a reduction in fees.
    The new fees will affect both indigene and non indigene students of the institution.

    Addressing reporters on Thursday in Ilorin, the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Dr. Ali Ahmad, said that the decision to reduce the tuition fees was based on need to reflect policy of the state government on making education affordable to students.

    The students of the institution had staged several protests against authority of the polytechnic and the government over the hike in the tuition fees, just as the state government announced a reduction of N5,000 on the fees as a way to address the situation.

    However, the state government had to form a joint committee of both the executive and legislative arms to find a lasting solution to persistent protests by the students.

    The Speaker, who said that the joint committee had directed the school to revert to schedule of fees as approved by the committee for the 2017/2018 academic session, added that the fees were much lower than what the management was to charge and what indigene students paid during 2016/2017 session.

    “Thus, some students will now pay as much as N19,000 less than what they would have paid”, he said.

    He also said that all students that had paid over and above the 2017/2018 fees, as just approved, shall be refunded by the school, adding that the decision superseded all earlier decisions on the subject matter.

    Read Also: Kwara poly fee hike: Saraki wades in

    The speaker, however, said that students had up till the end of January 2018 to fully pay their newly approved tuition fees, adding that the council and representatives of students should be carried along and all due process followed before any future increase in tuition fees.

    The joint committee, headed by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Isiaka Gold, said that it was reminded of the state policy by the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, on December 4, 2017, ” when he bemoaned the increase as beyond the reach of ordinary parents.

    Said he: “Nothing shows the commitment of Kwara state to this age long policy than the constitution of this joint committee itself. A joint committee of two arms is not common, indeed it is impossible in some presidential systems. But the major consideration of all officials is the finding of a lasting solution to the fee increase saga dictated this extreme scenario.”

  • Kwara Assembly passes Disability Bill

    The Kwara House of Assembly on Wednesday passed the People with Disabilities Bill.

    The bill, which was passed after the House considered its features at the Committee of the Whole, was sponsored by Aishat lbrahim (APC–Ilorin East).

    The bill, if assented to, would further protect the rights of physically challenged persons in the state and give them more opportunities.

    The Speaker, Dr Ali Ahmad, directed the Clerk of the House, Alhaji Muhammed Katsina, to produce a clean copy of the bill for Gov.  Abdulfatah Ahmed’s assent.

    During Wednesday’s plenary, the Kwara Revenue Court Amendment Bill and the Revenue Administration Bill also passed second reading.

    Moving the motion, the House Leader, Hassan Oyeleke, said that the new amendment would accelerate dispensation of justice on tax- related matters.

     

  • Be ready to arrest all of us, APC Rep tells police

    Be ready to arrest all of us, APC Rep tells police

    The chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Justice, Dr. Ali Ahmad says the police will have to arrest a lot of Representatives should they carry out their threat to move against Speaker Aminu Tambuwal.

    The police plan to invite Tambuwal for questioning over Thursday’s assault on the National Assembly by armed policemen, and arrest him should he fail to heed their invitation.

    The Speaker has already declared his preparedness to honour any invitation from the police.

    Ahmad said yesterday that the police should be ready to arrest no fewer than 100 Reps along with Tambuwal.

    The former University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) law teacher said they were prepared to accompany the Speaker to prison.

    He spoke to reporters in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital shortly after commissioning UNILORIN Students Union vocational Centre which he equipped.

    He said: “Anybody who is planning to arrest Mr. Speaker should be ready to arrest over 100 legislators. We will follow him to prison and if they won’t open the prison doors we will break them and go inside. They should go and buy more shackles. We have brought back our skills in the university days.

    “When I jumped the fence I remember my National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) days. We will do anything for Nigerian democracy not to be sacrificed on the altar of somebody’s personal ego. Nigeria is a country that is being governed by a constitution.

    “It is not a kingdom. You cannot just wake up and say you want somebody to disappear. No. You are there because of the constitution. You continue to be there because of the constitution and when you leave you leave because of the constitution.

    “Police action in the whole saga is illegal. You cannot interpret the constitution. When the courts have the opportunity to pounce on the police they will do that. Just yesterday (Friday), the Supreme Court passed a judgment on the Taraba State government and it sacked the governor. The time will come when the courts will smash the police because they know what they are doing is not right.”

    Commenting on the political situation in Ekiti State, Ahmad, who is a former Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice in the state said, “Every Nigerian knows that what took place in Ekiti State is the height of impunity. You see that the police and these miscreants are gathering more enemies for Mr. President.

    “Look at Ekiti now seven is greater than 19. Nigerians are no fools, because you have the military and soldiers; but one day Nigerians have that power more powerful than the guns. That is the day of elections and I am sure that that is the day that Nigerians will speak very loud. Our prayer is that the gap should not be 60/40 but 80/20 against PDP.”

     

     

     

  • N10m tools, gifts for Kwara constituents

    N10m tools, gifts for Kwara constituents

    A member of the House of Representatives representing Ilorin East/South Federal constituency in Kwara State, Dr. Ali Ahmad has spent N10 million on youth empowerment and Ramadan gifts to his constituent members and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders.

    All the 23 wards in the constituency benefited from the gesture in Ilorin, the state capital. Items distributed as Ramadan gifts included bags of rice, sugar, milk, among others.

    Speaking at the event, Dr Ahmad who chairs the House Committee on Justice, added that he had empowered 120 youths in his constituency to engage in mechanised farming.

    He said that each beneficiary of the scheme, which is in partnership with some commercial farmers, could make as much as N3m annually if they are serious about it.

    He said the gesture was to assist the less privileged during the holy month of Ramadan, adding that the empowerment programme would contribute in reducing youth unemployment.

    The lawmaker implored the beneficiaries to embrace the Ramadan fast and pray fervently for Nigeria to overcome its numerous challenges.

    Two indigenes from Ilorin South and East Local Governments who were sponsored by Ahmad to learn shoe-making were presented with the working tools to effectively put the knowledge to practice to earn a living.

    Said he:” We implore our people to embrace Ramadan as it has approached and to involve in fervent prayers for all the ills bedevilling our nation in current times.

    “We have two empowerment programmes for the youth. We are doing it in phases, this one is for the youths. We have empowered 120 youths in a job that would fetch them between N1million and N3million a year. It is a mechanised commercial farming project in association with some commercial farmers. We have perfected the plan.

    “With the 120, there would be other additional phases for others. Basically it is about commercial farming and we are trying to encourage our youths to engage in farming because this is the employer of labour. We are just leveraging on it and we thank God that it has culminated in the employment of 120 youths.”

    As for artisans, the legislator added that “for those who are artisans, you are seeing what we have done in the past six months.

    “We engage them as a trial, as a model and it has succeeded. So, we have empowered these youths, we have given them all the implements they need to go to the market and I am sure you can see the enthusiasm of other youths. So, we would enrol more youths in this and other artisan work that can benefit them.

    “The advice I have for them is that they have been carefully chosen; they have been enamoured. So, it is for them to now go to the field and you can see the quality of works they do and these shoes are very cheap.

    “It is for them to go further and conquered the world so that they would now be an example for other upcoming youths. And through all these composite programmes, we can keep on to address the unemployment problem that we have.”

    At the event were PDP Chairmen in the two local governments, party leaders, supporters, women and youths who also got their share of the Ramadan package.

    A PDP chieftain in the constituency, Alhaji Oba Bolanta, in his remarks, commended the lawmaker and urged other wealthy Nigerians to always remember the less privileged who live from hand to mouth.