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Tag: Kaduna state

  • El-Rufai task students on ethical behaviour, good values

    Gov. Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna State on Sunday, tasked students on ethical behaviour and promoting good values that would enhance national growth and development.

    The governor stated this while speaking as Special Guest at the Speech and Prize Giving Day of UMRABS School, Tudun Jukun, Zaria, Kaduna State.

    El-Rufa’i , who was represented by Sheik Jamilu Albani, Special Assistant to the governor on Islamic Organisations, said good attitude in life is necessary for individual and societal development.

    The governor lauded the efforts of UMRABS for inculcating producing students that have excellent attitudinal values, but lamented that some private schools were shirking in their responsibility of inculcating good values and qualitative education of their students.

    The governor urged parents to stop sending their children to higher institutions in places with nobody to be serve as their guardian.

    “Doing so is negatively affecting the behaviour and education of some of the children,” he noted.

    Presenting a paper entitled: “Good Education and Moral upbringing”, the Guest Speaker, Malam Kabir Musa stressed the need for proper upbringing of children to ensure good future for them and the nation.

    Musa, who is the Director, Mu’az Bn Jabal Foundation Zaria, identified mosque as the first place of administration in Islam.

    He explained that during the time of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) the mosque also served as place for teaching, learning, judgement and administration among others.

    In his speech, the Director of the school, Dr Isa Sa’idu said the main objectives of citing the school was to give students Islamic and western education.

    Sa’idu said the school had brought in new innovation in the way students write their final examinations.

    “As the tradition demands in Nigeria, some parents prefer to send their children to where they call ‘miracle centres’ to enable them get the requirement into universities.

    “Here, we don’t do that, a student has to work hard and earn the requirement himself without any assistance from anybody, this is our principle and it works.

    “Any of our students that gets good grades, it is as a result of his/her hard work. We are now graduating the third set of secondary school leavers.

    “As I am talking to you now we have no fewer than 15 students in Ahmadu Bello University and Bayero University, Kano and they are maintaining higher CGPA of first class or second class upper,” he assured.

    The director appealed to government to consider the possibility of providing assistance to private schools to enable them cut down the school fees charged parents.

    “If government can come in and assist us, like in the area of salary, if it can pay half of our salaries, we can reduce our school fees.

    “Government can also assist by supplying some materials being used in schools to ease some problems,” he said.

  • Four policemen die during gun battle with bandits

    The Police Command in Kaduna State said four of its operatives had died during a gun battle with bandits in the state.

    The Public Relations Officer of the command, DSP  Sabo Yakubu, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Sunday.

    “At about 0630hrs on Aug. 11, a team of detectives attached to IGP intelligent Response Team ( IRT) while on operation along Jankasa village of Rigasa  in Igabi Local Government Area in Kaduna State was ambushed by bandits.

    “After a Fierce gun battle, 4 of our policemen paid the Supreme Sacrifice,” Yakubu said.

    Read also: http://staging.thenationonlineng.net/police-nab-trickstar-for-alleged-theft-of-tricycle-in-enugu/

    He said no arrest had so far been made but assured that all the culprits would be arrested and prosecuted.

    He said a team of reinforcement had been mobilised to the area in order  to bring the perpetrators to book.

    “We appeal to the general public to assist the police with useful information toward ensuring that the perpetrators of this dastardly act are arrested and prosecuted,” the police spokesman said.

  • Balarabe Musa, Aremu seek end to executive/legislature’s face-off

    …say Nigeria democracy mustn’t fall like Russia’s

    First Executive Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa and General Secretary Textile Union, Comrade Issa Aremu has asked members of the Federal Executive and National Assembly, to stop their face-off and demonstrate statesmanship in the interest of Nigeria.

    They made the call in Kaduna on Thursday, when Aremu, who is also a gubernatorial aspirant of Labour Party in kwara State paid Balarabe Musa a courtesy call at his residence in Kaduna on Thursday

    They said that, it is only if the two most important arms of government embrace ‘statemanship’ in place of ‘brinkmanship’ that democratic process in Nigeria can become sustainable.

    Balarabe Musa warned that, Nigeria’s democratic government must not be allowed to fall like the Russian communist government.

    He said, like the last Tuesday’s drama, the closure of the Russian parliament by the President was responsible for its government’s downfall. “and up till today, Russia has never being the same again, despite the fact that, members of the Russian parliament were more matured than our own National Assembly members”.

    He however called on Nigerians and those in position of authority to demontsrate high level of patriotism and statemanship in the interest of Nigeria’s democracy.

    Balarabe Musa however endorsed Comrade Aremu’s candidacy for 2019 gubernatorial election in Kwara, citing his commitment to struggle for social justice and development in Nigeria. “I support Comrade Aremu 99 per cent. I would have supported him 100 per cent if he runs on the platform of PRP.

    But Labour Party he chooses is part of progressive families committed to socialist transformation of Nigeria”.

    The Labour Party aspirant disclosed that he was inspired by the progressive record of Musa as the first executive governor of Kaduna state adding that “am an ideological and political son of Alhaji Balarabe Musa right from my university days”.

    Read Also: Buhari hails Balarabe Musa’s honesty

    Speaking earlier at the unveiling of the 40th Anniversary Logo of Textile Union, the frontline labour leader said the “addictive conflicts” between the legislators and the Federal Executive would undermine good governance and democracy.

    He said, Nigeria’s uninterrupted democracy in the last 20 years needed quality people who would stand for fundamental state principles of good governance as contained in 1999 constitution in place of what he called “politicians desperate for immediate pursuit of power and money”.

    Referring to the drama at the National Assembly following illegal prevention of some legislators on Tuesday, Comrade Aremu said the survival of the “smartest politicians” must give way to the survival of democratic process in Nigeria.

    He said democratic forces who fought for democracy must not allow the democratic process undermined by “selfishness and cheap carpet crossing”.

    The labour leader said it was time Nigeria implemented the resolutions of 2014 conference with reference to code of conduct for political parties, political party office holders on carpet crossing.

    He said section 68 (8) of Constitution (as amended), be further amended to “indicate that any elected official, executive or legislative, who carpet-cross, regardless of the reasons for such, shall automatically forfeit their seat. Such officials are however; free to contest for the position or indeed any other position on the basis of their new political party.

    Earlier the President of NUTGTWN, Comrade John Adaji disclosed that the 40th anniversary of the Union would hold from Tuesday 16th to Thursday 18th October 2018.

    Activities include Anniversary Rallies, Lectures, Exhibitions, fashion parade and gala nite/Anniversary Awards in major textile cities of Kano, Kaduna and Lagos.

  • APC nullifies Shehu Sani’s suspension

    The National secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Sunday declared the suspension Senator representing Kaduna Central senatorial district of Kaduna state, Senator Shehu Sani as null and void and lifted the suspension.
    The party direct the Kaduna state chairman of of the party to convey the decision to the Tudun Wada Ward of the party and ensure compliance inline with the peace initiatives of President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
    The senator who was expected to defect from the APC along with his aggrieved colleagues in the National Assembly opted to remain in the APC following the intervention of President Muhammadu Buhari and the party chairman, as well as former Kaduna state Governor, Abdulkadir Baralabe Musa.
    In a statement on Sunday signed by the Acting National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Yekini Nabena, the APC said: “The National Secretariat has received the news of the suspension of Senator Shehu Sani by the Tudun Wada ward Chairman and wish to clarify that the purported suspension of Distinguished Senator Shehu Sani representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District is hereby lifted and is confirmed as a bonafide Member and leader of our party.
    “The Chairman Kaduna State Chapter has been directed to inform the relevant Ward and Local Government chapters appropriately, and also  put the necessary mechanism towards complementing the efforts of the National leadership towards ensuring lasting peace and unity in the party”.
    The Nation gathered that the Presidency is not happy with the decision to suspend the Senator few days after displaying his loyalty to the President and the party by staying back in the party.
    A senior member of the party said the leadership was shocked to receive the news of Senator Sani’s suspension and felt that those behind it cannot truly be working foe the interest of the party and the President.
    The party official who would not want to be names “because I do t have the mandate to speak for the party said “we feel that considering what is going on in the party, this is not the right time for anybody who has the interest of the President and the party at heart to think of suspending anyone, definitely not a Senator who is supporting the President
    It will be recalled that Senator Sani had shunned the idea of defecting to the PDP like other APC National Assembly members following the peace moves initiated by the National chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

  • Army arrests two over alleged enlistment scam, impersonation

    The Nigerian Army on Sunday paraded two suspected recruitment racketeers, who had been posing as personnel, extorting potential recruits under the pretext to get them enlisted into the Depot Nigerian Army as recruits.

    The suspects (names withheld), were paraded at the Depot Nigerian Army Zaria, Kaduna State, by Lt. Adekunle Adeyemi, the Acting Army Public Relations Officer (APRO).

    “The attention of this noble institution has been drawn to activities of some fraudsters parading themselves in Zaria metropolis as military officers.

    “These suspects indulged in defrauding unsuspecting potential recruits of their hard earned money.

    “They use the social media and proxies to lure their victims to pay them money as inducement on the promise of assisting to get them recruited into the Nigerian Army,” the spokesman said.

    Adeyemi said that the suspects were among the recruitment racketeers arrested on July 29 around Chindit Countermen by the Depot’s Military Police.

    He said that their arrest was possible after some defrauded victims raised an alarm which led to immediate action that yielded positive result.

    “The arrested suspects claimed to be working in collaboration with the duo of Abubakar Sadiq Musa and Lawal Bala Abdullahi whom they said paraded themselves to be military officers and lure unsuspecting victims for the syndicate.

    “I want to state unequivocally that Abubakar Sadiq Musa and Lawal Bala Abdullahi who are currently at large were at no time officers of the Nigerian Army.

    “The arrested suspects attested in their confessional statements to have so far defrauded no fewer than eight potential recruits to the tune of N1.3 million which was shared among themselves,” Adeyemi said.

    The Army spokesman said that of the total amount extorted, only N163,000 was recovered from the suspects.

    He assured that recruitment into the Nigerian Army was free and only possible through a transparent and rigorous process which started from completion of online registration form and subsequent screening processes at the respective states’ recruitment centres.

    Adeyemi, therefore, called on the general public to be aware of the nefarious activities of fraudsters and resist the temptation of falling victims of fraudulent online social media platform that request for payment for easy enlistment.

    Speaking to newsmen, one of the suspects claimed to be residing in Rigasa, Kaduna while the other one claimed to be residing around Isa Kaita Road area of Kaduna.

    The duo, however, traded blame against one another, claiming that it was one that invited the other for the nefarious activities using a name of an army officer.

    NAN reports that there had been reports both of them confessed to have been collecting N250,000 from each of their victims for possible enlistment into the Nigerian Army.

  • Defectors must not be accorded undue advantage – Makarfi

    Former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caretaker chairman, Senator Ahmed Makarfi has cautioned the leadership of the party against giving undue advantage to returnee members and those defecting.

    The former two-term governor of Kaduna State, while addressing the leadership of the Kogi State chapter of the party and other stakeholders Friday in Lokoja, said but for the steadfastness of committed members, PDP could have become history.

    Read Also:Ajomale: Defectors from APC are political jobbers

    Offering himself for the presidential candidate of the party ahead of the 2019 general election, he recounted the difficult days of the party following after the 2015 poll, when the PDP lost power at the centre.

    “Some people when you pinch them like this (touching his arm), they will run to another party. When the going was tough, I stayed on… but you accept them into your house and give them your guest room. Next, they take the Master Bedroom; next, they drive you out of your house. We must not allow this, nor give undue advantage to them, so that we do not alienate our people.

    “Modu Sheriff was brought from another party; they said he had three jets; he had billions, but what did he do? He was taking the party down, but I, the ‘bush boy,’ with the support of others, I was able to make members close ranks, and today, we can all see”, he said.

    He also delved on the vexed issue of restructuring, saying that only Nigerians can restructure the country, under a ‘trusted leadership’.

    According to him: “We fought the battle together; the praise and credit I’m receiving, is to God and to all of us. To me, Kogi is home; when Alhaji Ibrahim Idris (Ibro) was governor, we use to come and spend weekends with him, Kogi remains a home to me.

    “We have many problems confronting us in Nigeria; insecurity, lack of national consensus, hunger, poverty; our economy has gone down, but there are few people benefiting. Nigerians are in lack; they are not able to provide for their families, access good healthcare, and all sorts of deprivation. People are being witch-hunted.

    “Some people talk of restructuring, but when they talk of restructuring, they talk of sharing money and resources. I tell you; we need institutional restructuring.

    “Only Nigerians that can restructure Nigeria. People are asking for restructuring due to lack of belonging, lopsidedness in appointments, the feeling of being cheated, and so on. Who can restructure Nigeria, but Nigerians, with a leader that can be trusted. I offer that and much more.

    “What I tell you is that now, if you’re in power, you’re right; if you’re in opposition, you’re wrong. We must get to a level in Nigeria, where if you’re a president, a governor, you can be charged for wrongdoing; not you being in power and witch-hunting every other person. That is turning Nigeria into a ‘Banana Republic’. We must therefore restructure our institutions.

    “Gentlemen, a tree does not make a forest…they will come with bags of money. Collect, but do the right thing. There is no receipt”.

  • Kaduna High Court frees 100 Shi’ites members in detention

    The Kaduna State High Court on Tuesday in her judgement in the “no case submission” filed by the defense lawyers on the case brought before her freed nearly 100 members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) also known as Shi’ites group, that were arrested at various locations in December 2015 following a clash between the group and the Nigerian Army.

    Justice Shiri Nyom in his judgement discharged and acquitted the sect members of the charges levelled against them as contained in a Press Statement signed by the President Media Forum of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Ibrahim Musa and made available to newsmen.

    According to the statement, “This judgement has not only vindicated the members of the Islamic movement in Nigeria, but it is certainly a victory for perseverance in the face of extreme persecution. It is a victory for truth and justice against tyranny and impunity,” said the statement.

    The Islamic Movement further stated, “It will be recalled that the Kaduna state government sued almost about 200 members of the Islamic Movement after an attack on the Movement by the Nigerian Army in December 2015 which led to the killing of over a thousand souls, including three sons of the Sheikh Zakzaky, his elder sister and a nephew.

    “The attack was sequel to the unlawful invasion of the privacy of their residence and eventual destruction of the house completely. This has been aptly described by several human rights bodies as a massacre. To worsen these flagrant crimes against humanity, bodies of all the hundreds killed were hurriedly and secretly buried in mass graves about 100 km away from the scene, apparently in a shoddy attempt at hiding the crime and its magnitude.”

    Read Also: Gunmen murders district head in Kaduna state

    The sect group reiterated its call for the release of its leader Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky and his wife who have equally been in the custody of the Director of State Services (DSS), “We are all aware of the crude tactics of the Kaduna state government led by Malam Nasir el-Rufai all in his devilish plots at perpetuating the persecution against the Islamic Movement and the continued detention incommunicado of Sheikh Zakzaky and his ailing wife in spite of previous court judgement ordering their immediate release from detention, thereby further flaunting his fundamental rights and rights to liberty.

    “With this victory in the court today, the false charges filed against them of aiding and abetting the culpable homicide has been punctured for good. We await the response of the Kaduna state government as Sheikh Zakzaky’s case comes up in the next two days. We expect them to respect the judgement of this honourable court and the course of justice to withdraw the fake charges against him and release him with immediate effect.

    “As a peaceful Movement, we have kept to our clean tradition of seeking redress through peaceful means without any resort to violence despite deliberate and persistent provocations by the government. Today, Kaduna state government has again failed in court after a fair trial. We therefore give praises to the Almighty Allah for yet another successful outing, which further proves to the world that the Movement and its leader are only victims of impunity and mischievous plots by the El-Rufai-led government,” according to the statement.

    The Islamic Movement in Nigeria thanked all those that stood by it throughout the trial, “We wish to use this opportunity to also say a big thank you to all people of conscience, human rights activists and organizations, journalists and all those that joined in our dogged campaign for justice for the victims of Zaria genocide. Thank you and God bless.”

  • Killings: We will stabilize Zamfara, Birnin-Gwari soon – Buratai

    The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Yusuf Buratai has assured that, the military will soon stabilize the troubled areas of Zamfara state and Birnin Gwari axis of Kaduna State.

    The Chief of Army Staff gave the assurance during his routine operational visit to troops in Kafanchan and Kachia in Kaduna state.

    Buratai who said his visit was aimed at inspection of ongoing projects and assessment of combat readiness of the troops in the field, said plans have already been put in place to restore normalcy in those troubled areas.

    Speaking to newsmen after the tour, Buratai said, “This is routine operational visit to see the troops, to look at what we have in Kaduna, the school of artillery and to see some of the infrastructure that have been put in place, to see what the troops are also doing in respect of operations.

    “This place is one of the Nigerian Army’s Forward Based Operations, which we later developed into a full battalion. We just acquired some of the equipment needed by the battalion, which we will soon start using in the area.”

    Speaking on over 200 motorcycles which he said would be deployed to the area, he said “This is internal security issue going on, and this is something that we must prepare for. The troops have to be on alert to maintain security.

    Read Also: Buratai restates commitment to end insurgency in North-East

    When asked the reason why it is difficult to stabilize the troubled areas of Birnin Gwari and Zamfara state, having restored peace in Southern Kaduna, the Army Chief said, “nothing is making it difficult. Be rest assured that those places will be stabilized very soon.

    “We reinforcing our troops there, we are reinforcing our equipment as well. We are adjusting the deployment in that area. We are getting the relevant platforms to ensure all the security agencies are able to deal with those security threats.” He said.

    The Army Chief had earlier paid a courtesy visit on the Chief of Kaninkon, Malam Tanko Tete and Emir of Jema’a, Alhaji Muhammadu Isa MuhammaduMuhammadu where the two traditional rulers had expressed appreciation to the army and the government for the restored security in their domains.

     

  • FAO raises alarm over looming food shortage in Nigeria

    The Food and Agriculture Organisation ( FAO) has raised an alarm and serious warning over impending danger of food shortage in the country.

    The organisation, in a statement issued Tuesday in Abuja attributed the likely famine to army worm pest invasion on maize and other crops.

    According to the FAO National Communications Officer, David Karl, the pest crop destruction has extended to other crops such as millet, sorghum, cowpea, vegetables, thus could pose threat to the Federal Government food sufficiency drive.

    Read Also:Nigeria to face pressure in livestock production – FAO

    However, he noted that FAO in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) organised 3-day training for over 100 farmers in the country in order to curtail and manage the noxious pest and its effect on crops.

    He said the training was carried out in Kaduna state with participants drawn from other parts of the region while similar training was held for farmers in the North central (Abuja) and southwest (Akure) regions among others.

    It reads in part: “As the rainy season dawn in all parts of the country, planting of maize has begun in earnest, especially in the Northern part of the country where majority of the produce is cultivated. However, the presence of the invasive trans-boundary pest the Fall Army-worm (FAW) noticed for the first time in Nigeria in 2016 continues to be a great threat to the nation’s food security.

    “The looming danger of the possibility of the pest extending its host range to other important crops such as millet, sorghum, cowpea, vegetables is very high and therefore calls for urgent attention.”

    According to the statement, the training of trainers programme was put together such that the trained farmers are expected to further take down the training to farmers in their respective communities.

    “As part of the immediate intervention to prevent farmers from sustaining drastic yield losses during this 2018 cropping season, and to restore productive capacity, FAO has provided to farmers, early maturing maize seed variety, herbicides, fertilizer, PPE materials, knapsack sprayer and Goldmax Total Crop Solution

    “Furthermore, as part of FAO’s effort, 120 extension workers and 50 researchers from the project target states (Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara, Abia, Borno, Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa and FCT) were trained on FAW biology, identification, damage symptoms, integrated pest management techniques, which includes, cultural practices, biological and chemical control, other topics covered include pesticide and pesticide risk reduction. Good Agricultural Practice (GAP).”

    The FAO Country Representative Suffyan Koroma described the inputs given to the farmers as short term measures to enable them meet up with the 2018 planting season.

    “FAO has also initiated the process of establishing a National Task Force to advice Government of Nigeria on FAW infestation. Engage partners, communicate with relevant stakeholders on the menace of the pest and promote cooperation, coordination, consistency and synergies across the country on its infestation and intervention. Membership of the Task Force will include amongst others, Research Institutions, private sector, relevant MDAs, NGOs, and Development Partners etc.”

    Koroma restated FAO’s commitment not to relent in the fight against army worm to achieve the aim of achieving zero hunger and improving the livelihood of local farmers.

     

  • Minimum wage committee to round up negotiation soon – Wabba

    Says no evidence Nigeria has exited Recession

    President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba has assured Nigerian workers that ongoing negotiations for a new national minimum wage will be concluded before the end of August, expressing the hope however that implementation will begin immediately.

    Wabba also said that despite claims by government that the country has exited recession, Nigerians were yet to see the results of the exit as the social and economic situations of average Nigerians are daily becoming bleaker than before.

    The Congress also said that the numerous problems facing the country and its people are signs of bad governance and bad leadership which has characterized the nation’s democracy since 1999.

    Speaking at the 16th Rain School and the 32nd in the sequence of the NLC National Schools, with the theme “Labour, Politics and National Unity: Expanding the Frontiers of Workers’ Participation”, President of Congress, Comrade Ayuba Wabba said the Labour movement remains the only institution can integrate the Nigerian people because it is never divided along primordial lines.

    He said: “The Nigerian nation is undergoing numerous challenges ranging from economic crisis, security crisis and other socio-cultural challenges that we must all come to terms with and collectively tackle.

    “Innocent lives are being killed and dispensed with, as human lives do not count so much to those committing these heinous crimes. Young people are being exploited and used by disgruntled people who are manipulating them because of the crisis of development which have created mass poverty, unemployment and inequality in the country.

    “The numerous problems confronting the country and its people are signs of bad governance and leadership which has characterized our democracy since 1999.

    Read Also: Workers never get demands on platter of gold, says Wabba

    “The Labour movement remains the only standing political institution that has the wherewithal to make national integration possible. This is because; we are never divided along sentimental lines that other political institutions are known with. And that is why we keep insisting that ethnic and religious sentiments have no place in the movement.

    “We are amused that some politicians in the name of expanding the frontiers of capitalism do not see any good in the existence of trade unions. They have forgotten that the working people are the producers of wealth which service their political careers from where they are occupying the political positions.

    “It is in the face of practicing an obscured and jaundiced capitalism that many state governors deliberately refused to pay the salaries of the workers and pensions in their states.

    “One very saddening case is that of Kaduna State, where Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i has embarked on an illusory agenda of ensuring that trade unions become extinct by stopping payment of salary, pensions and check-off dues.

    “Let me have it on record those governors and other political officer holders are elected or appointed to serve the people and not kill them through stoppage of the means of their survival and that of their organizations.

    “Nigerians have been told that the country has gotten out of recession, but we are yet to see the result of the exit of the country from recession as the social and economic situations of average Nigerians is daily becoming bleaker than before.

    “The Nigeria Labour Congress acknowledges the performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the conduct of elections especially, Congress commends the sterling performance of the INEC in the conduct of the recent governorship election in Ekiti State which was adjudged to be free and fair and devoid of violence by observers.

    “Congress is excited with these performances and in this light wants to call on INEC to come up with some innovations that can make our electoral system better.

    “As the 2019 General elections approach, Congress implores the political parties and politicians to conduct themselves in a civilized way that is in compliance with international best practices through observance and adherence to the electoral rules and regulations.

    The Congress and other stakeholders are still meeting on the issues of minimum wage and hopefully will round up by August 2018. With Minimum wage as one of the most important ways of motivating workers to provide effective service, it is envisaged that, its implementation will engender growth not only among the public sector workers but also among the workers in the private and informal sectors of the economy.

    In Addition, the financial benefits associated with the minimum wage would trickle down to the whole society. It is instructive to state that the Congress will continue to pursue its goal of ensuring Labour participation in politics using its structures and programmes.