The Nation Newspaper

Tag: group

  • Group solicits support for govt on economy

    Group solicits support for govt on economy

    The Police Assistance Committee (PAC) has solicited the support of every Nigerian for the Federal Government in its quest to address the current economic recession and move the country forward.

    In a communiqué issued in Lagos after a one-day workshop organized for its members comprising trade associations and artisans operating in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) category, the organization pleaded with Nigerians in all facets of economic endeavour to join hands with the Buhari administration by offering workable suggestions and ideas to fast-track rebuilding the economy rather than criticizing every attempt by government to address the situation.

    In the communiqué signed by its Director-General, Dr. Martins John-Oni, the PAC told participants at the workshop, comprising chairmen, secretaries and PROs of trade associations and artisans to mobilize their members on how they can key into various government economic policies being projected to bail the country out of economic recession within the quickest possible time and shun all vices that can adversely affect the economy.

    Dr. Oni noted that the Nigerian project is faced with several challenges, ranging from security, social, political and economic, and, therefore, urged all well-meaning Nigerians across board to assist the government in proffering workable solutions to address the various challenges, confronting the country, adding that the Nigerian project is everybody’s project and all hands must be on deck to salvage the country.

    The PAC helmsman pledged that the organization will keep intensifying its efforts in the area of assisting our security agencies with information and intelligence in the area of crime detection and combating.

  • N250m jobs tools for artisans, groups in Kwara

    N250m jobs tools for artisans, groups in Kwara

    Senate President Bukola Saraki has spent N250 million on jobs tools distributed to artisans, women associations, taxi drivers, Hausa groups, Igbo groups, Zuru and Fulani groups in the state. Other beneficiaries, according to him, were members of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Nigeria Association of Local Government Employees (NULGE), and Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU).

    Eighty tricycles, 1,777 grinding machines and 664 sewing machines, among other items, were distributed to the beneficiaries.

    The empowerment scheme, according to the senate president was designed to alleviate poverty and equip the less privilege to be economically self-reliant.

    Saraki was represented at the distribution of the items which took place at his mandate constituency office by the state chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Ishola Balogun-Fulani.

    Senator Saraki said that the gesture was to give back to reciprocate the honour done to him to represent them at the upper house which gave him the opportunity to become the president of the Senate. He promised the beneficiaries more of such assistance.

    The senate president advised the beneficiaries to use the items judiciously so that it can uplift them economically.

    The Director-General, Mandate Constituency Office, Abdulwahab Issa, said beneficiaries of the scheme were selected across the 16 local government areas of the state.

    Alhaji Issa said that “we painstakingly spread it round all the Local Government and wards in Kwara Central as well as Kwara North and Kwara South Senatorial districts.

    “I appeal to all beneficiaries to use the materials judiciously. On our part at mandate we shall endeavour to monitor how it is being utilised.”

    The Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, was represented by the Magaji Are of Ilorin Alhaji Aremu Zubair hailed the effort of the former Kwara State governor and urged other political office holders to emulate him.

     

  • Global Lifestyle group marks Eid al-Adha

    The Global Lifestyle hotel brands in Nigeria made up of Sheraton Lagos Hotel, Sheraton Abuja Hotel, Four Points by Sheraton Lagos, Le Meridien Ogeyi Place- Port Harcourt and Le Meridien Ibom Hotel and Golf Resorts- Akwa Ibom have unveiled  Eid packages for its customers.

    The hotel teams have extended their goodwill to families and friends with discounted room rates  valid from 8 to 18 of September.

    The Area General Manager for the hotels, Barry Curran, said:  “This festive holiday will be celebrated with special Sallah meals where families can come together to enjoy roast lamb and other delicacies prepared by renowned chefs of the hotels.

    “At Le Meridien Ogeyi Place Hotel in Port Harcourt, you can be sure that the Sallah special at the Ororo Restaurant is a treat to experience. “

    For those wishing to enjoy the the Eid holidays, he said: Le Meridien Ibom Hotel and  Golf Resort Akwa Ibom is the perfect get-away choice for family and friends.

    “Our offers will include complimentary breakfast,  complimentary dinner or lunch, high speed internet access, in-room amenities, express access to our fitness facilities, while kids below six  eat for free.

    “You can spend the day at Sheraton Lagos Hotel or Four Points by Sheraton Lagos without sleeping over and still access our world-class recreational facilities.”

  • Council chief hires vigilance groups

    The Chairman of Kuje Area Council, Alhaji Abdullahi Galadima, has disclosed plans to recruit vigilante members that would collaborate with the security agents to checkmate any form of crime in the entire council.

    Galadima while addressing journalists in Kuje after a closed door security meeting with traditional rulers and security agencies, therefore, urged the youth in the area to continue to remain law abiding to all constituted authorities.

    He however, called for the continued support to the council and noted that plans were underway to recruit vigilante members that would also collaborate with the security agents to checkmate any form of crime in the entire council. while urging residents to remain law abiding to all constituted authorities.

    Galadima said the issue of security was a collective responsibility of everybody, hence it had become necessary to rid the council of any form of crime and criminality.

    He advise residents to always partner with all security agencies by giving them any useful information whenever the need arose.

     

  • Group to create jobs for 6 million youths

    In advertising school, O2 Academy, is targeting about six million youths for training in advertising and marketing communications.

    Having trained 5000 youths in less than 10 years of its establishment, many of whom, it said, are employed in advertising agencies across the country, the Chief Executive Officer of the academy, Ozone Mbanefo, said it was very easy to realise the target.

    Mbanefo said there were plans to establish branches of the academy across the country.

    He spoke during the graduation of students of the academy in Lagos. He said the academy engaged  students on four-month intensive advertising and marketing communications training.

    “We create this graduation to showcase students’ works and we invite industry experts, who want to employ them to come and have a look at their works and of course, get them employed,” he said.

    The Managing Director, Creati-vexone, a brand management consultant, Doyin Adewunmi, described the academy as a veritable platform for enhancing industry performance, urging stakeholders to be passionate about it.

  • APC, group: hold Rivers govt, Wike responsible for lawyer’s death

    APC, group: hold Rivers govt, Wike responsible for lawyer’s death

    •Group fingers govt in lawyer’s killing

    The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and a group, the Vanguard for Justice, Equity and Strategy, have said the state and Governor Nyesom Wike should be held responsible for Monday’s killing of a human rights lawyer, Ken Atsuwete.

    Rivers APC told reporters yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, through its Deputy Chairman, Peter Odike, who was accompanied by some members of the State Working Committee (SWC), that well-meaning people should ignore what it called the spurious claim of the police command that Atsuwete died in an attempt to kidnap him and was not a target of the kidnap.

    It said: “On Monday morning, the Rivers State chapter of the APC received with shock the news of the assassination of popular human rights lawyer and activist, Ken Atsuwete, at his home.

    “Further interaction with the workers of the murdered lawyer showed that it was a case of premeditated murder, considering the dimensions of what happened.

    “We recall that the APC had relentlessly stated that the methods which led to killing its way to power in Rivers State, the government, led by Governor Nyesom Wike, cannot stop the violence, killings and maiming that have become part of the everyday chequered lives of the people and residents of Rivers State. In return, we have been called names and conveniently labelled doomsday prophets and naysayers. Today, such deceitful labelling by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Rivers State government officials has, once again, been proved wrong and we have been proved right.

    “The APC wishes to put on record that the state government and its agents must be held responsible for the killing of Atsuwete and the reasons for our charge are obvious and lucid.

    “The late Atsuwete was one of the leading counsel to APC’s chieftain, Ojukaye Flag-Amachree (ex-chairman of Asari-Toru Local Government of Rivers State, who has been in Port Harcourt Prisons for over four months), who is incarcerated on trumped-up charges surreptitiously inspired and driven by the Rivers State Government, led by Governor Wike.

    “Officials of the state government have variously vowed to teach the APC and its leader, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, a lesson by jailing one of its most active leaders, Flag-Amachree. However, Atsuwete, as counsel to Flag-Amachree, had thrown in everything into the defence of his client, to the chagrin of officials of the state government, who are the traducers of Flag-Amachree.”

    Rivers APC also said the late lawyer had not relented in standing with citizens and public servants against the wrongful use of state powers, adding that several cases he filed in such circumstances attested to the fact.

    APC said: “Most importantly, we know that last week, the late Atsuwete threatened, while on a radio programme (in Port Harcourt), that he would, this week, expose how the Publicity Secretary of the PDP in Rivers State, Samuel Nwanosike, obtained a forged court order restraining INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) from releasing Tai (Ogoni) Local Government’s rerun results – a court order the PDP has been parading.

    “The late Atsuwete promised to present the proof that such a court order did not exist and that the judge who purportedly gave that order was not a vacation judge, as she had been on vacation in the United States (U.S).

    “Unfortunately, they ensured he never saw this week and, therefore, cannot now expose those characters. They might have stopped Atsuwete in his track but they cannot stop God from exposing them.

    “The late Atsuwete complained severally to close associates that he was being sent threat text messages, phone calls and sometimes physically attacked by those he suspected were agents of the state government, for speaking out on topical issues that made the government and its officials ostensibly uncomfortable.

    “The APC is further shocked that reports showed that officials of the state government have, since Monday, inundated editors of national and local media houses, to subdue the story of the dastardly killing of Atsuwete.”

    APC added: “We call on the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) to prevail on the relevant authorities to unravel this crime. If a lawyer handling cases for the opposition in Rivers State could be this cheaply assassinated, who knows who will be the next victim.

    “The APC also calls on the Police commissioner, Department of State Services (DSS), Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Director-General, DSS and all security apparati in the land to solve the riddle surrounding the murder of Atsuwete and ensure the eventual prosecution of those who may directly and indirectly be involved in planning and execution of this heinous act.”

    Also, a group, Vanguard for Justice, Equity and Strategy, condemned the killing of the human rights lawyer.

    In a statement yesterday by its Coordinator, Jerome Alali Green, the group said the state government should be held responsible for Atsuwete’s death because of Wike’s administration’s inability to fight crime.

    It called for a state of emergency, adding that the governor was not ready to provide governance.

    The Vanguard for Justice, Equity and Strategy said: “Prior to his death, Atsuwete had written several petitions to the inspector-general of Police (IGP) on threats to his life, particularly on the matter of his client, Ojukaye Flag-Amachree, and his petition to the chief justice of the federation (CJF), against the chief judge of Rivers State for remanding Flag-Amachree in absentia, which was being attended to.

    “He also granted a live interview on Nigeria Info 92.3 FM in Port Harcourt on his position on the release of Tai Local Government’s election results and the procurement of a fake court order by Governor Wike, an interview which was said to have angered Samuel Nwanosike, who threatened him, among others.

    “Why was Atsuwete murdered in cold blood? Why has Governor Wike brought back the creek boys, who were used for 2015 elections to the streets again, with their guns? Why has Governor Wike abandoned the people of Rivers State to their fate? Why is the Federal Government allowing Wike’s antics to override the protection of life and property of Rivers people?”

     

  • Group to INEC: don’t use e-collation of results for Edo, Ondo polls

    Group to INEC: don’t use e-collation of results for Edo, Ondo polls

    A group, the Coalition in Defence of Nigerian Democracy and Constitution (CDNDC) at the weekend cautioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against the use of electronic (e-collation) of results in the governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States.

    The Edo governorship election will hold on September 10 while it will be Ondo’s turn on November 26.

    The co-convener of the group, Mr Ariyo-Dare Atoye, said in a statement that it could be prone to abuse.

    The group said it feared that the system could create problem if used for the first time in a major election.

    “We wish to urgently alert Nigerians and all stakeholders in our electoral process to the fact that the planned application of e-collation of results is not backed by the Electoral Act, and that it has not been tested in smaller elections to ascertain its effectiveness.

    ” We fear that it may be hijacked, manipulated and used to undermine the credibility of results.”

    It added that INEC in a similar fashion deployed the “untested Smart Card Readers (SCR) technology on a large scale for the conduct of the 2015 general elections”, in spite of it not being tested in smaller elections.

    But INEC had not said it would use e-collation for the Edo and Ondo elections. INEC chairman Prof Mahmood Yakubu said last week that INEC would consider transmitting results from polling units to collation centre in the 2019 elections .

  • Group warns of declining revenues, SMEs collapse

    The Association of Micro Entrepreneurs of Nigeria (AMEN) has warned small and medium scale companies to brace for significant declines in revenues this year.

    Its President, Prince Saviour Iche said many SMEs were  closing shop, following the high cost of raw materials and tougher restrictions on foreign exchange (forex) to buy raw materials.

    According to him, SMEs may disappear from the industry, despite their cost-cutting efforts.

    While some SMEs have suffered a downturn in sales, profits have also taken a hit and Iche fears factory closures would be inevitable.

    He said many firms were still mired in hardship, resulting in an increase in dissolved firms.

    Although growth opportunities for SMEs still preside, he said the high operation costs is beginning to impact SME performance.

    He explained that lower revenues is instigating firms to pull back on investment somewhat but business priorities have remained stable.

    Despite the economic challenges, he  said small businesses have continued with fewer resources, adding that some frustration is being seen in the SMEs’ sector at the pace of change and the time it is taking for policy initiatives to be felt among the nation’s small business community.

    Access to credit, he  maintained, still remains the most serious obstacle to the success of small-to-medium enterprises.

    He urged the government to set up a centre for credit services for struggling SMEs.

    He urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to  issue policies to encourage commercial banks to set aside preferential capital packages to lend to SMEs.

  • Group advocates attention to HIV treatment

    The new HIV Vaccine and Microbicide Advocacy Society (NHVMAS) has positioned itself to lead the ‘Leaving No Nigerian Behind (LeNNiB) campaign’.

    According to the coordinator, Dr Morenike Folayan, there is a global sense of urgency to end the HIV epidemic by 2030.

    Leading to this is the need to reach the 90-90-90 target by 2020. “We we have about 3.4 million people living with HIV infection, 210,000 new infections yearly, less than 10 million people taking a HIV test yearly, only 30 percent PMTCT coverage, and less than 30 percent treatment coverage. There is also a decline in condom use, an increase in the number of adolescents with HIV infections, including those newly infected with HIV as adolescents due to high sexual risk behaviour for HIV infection, and a whole lot more. Yet Nigeria is one of the largest recipients of donor funds for its HIV response programmes.

    “One of the slogans is ensuring that no one is left behind in the HIV response. However we community advocates are deeply concerned that Nigeria may be left behind the drive to end the global HIV epidemic. We as community members therefore, out of a deep sense of responsibility to ourselves, identify the strong need to push for all stakeholders to be accountable for the progress we make toward the 2020 and 2030 global targets.

  • Group cautions Abia lawmakers on NDDC nomination

    A GROUP, South East Progressive Assembly (SEPA), has defended the nomination of Abia State All Progressives Congress (APC) chair Mr. Donatus Nwankpa to the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission; (NDDC).

    Nwankpa’s nomination was criticised by some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senators, who maintained that he was unsuitable for the position because his community produces no oil.

    But SEPA urged the critics to support Nwankpa’s candidacy, saying he will usher in much-needed development to the state, especially the oil-producing parts.

    The three PDP senators, Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South), Theodore Orji (Abia Central) and  Mao Ohuabunwa (Abia North), it was gathered, had opposed Nwankpa’s nomination on the basis that he hails from Osisioma Ngwa council area which is non-oil producing.

    In a statement signed by its president, Ebere Uzoukwa, SEPA said Nwankpa, a former Minority Leader in the State House of Assembly, and ex-Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development,   has the goodwill to attract people-oriented projects to enhance  development in the oil-producing areas of the state.

    “The South East Progressive Assembly (SEPA) welcomes with joy the nomination of Hon. Donatus Nwankpa as Abia State representative on the NDDC Board by President Muhammadu Buhari. This nomination remains a perfect choice and laudable considering Nwankpa’s background as someone with superlative record in public service.

    “As a former Minority Leader in Abia State House of Assembly and former commissioner for Housing and Urban Development in the state before emerging the state chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Nwankpa,has unarguably distinguished himself.

    “That he doesn’t come from Ukwa West, the oil-producing local government should not override or supplant competence, merit and loyalty roundly considered by President Buhari in nominating Nwankpa for the job. Nwankpa’s local government, Osisioma Ngwa, is and remains part of Abia oil producing area as it houses biggest oil facilities in the state. The people of Osisioma Ngwa have indeed suffered severe degradation and negative effects of pipeline explosion and vandalism.

    “We also consider it appropriate to remind those opposing Nwankpa’s nomination that the pioneer chairman of NDDC, Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, didn’t have to come from Ukwa West before his appointment by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo.”