The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Kaduna

  • NAF ready to partner innovative institutions for capacity development

    NAF ready to partner innovative institutions for capacity development

    The Nigerian Air Force ( NAF ) says it is ready to partner with innovative institutions for capacity development to combat insecurity and insurgency in the country.

    AVM Paul Jemitola, Principal Director, Air Research and Development Center, NAF, Kaduna, said this on Wednesday in Benin at the ongoing 15th meeting of the National Council of Science and Technology.

    Jemitola said that this was in line with the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar’s vision for the Air Force.

    According to him, the Air Chief is keen on research and development and encourages all kinds of development projects by the Air Force.

    He said the Air Force was at the meeting to network and collaborate with other agencies and ministries that had capacity that would be of benefit to the Nigerian Armed Forces.

    Jemitola said that the latest technology developed in addition to the many innovations by the Air Force were the Gulma Unmanned Area Vehicle ( UAV ) and the Unmanned Ground Vehicle ( UGV ).

    Read also: NAF acquires, reactivates five additional air craft to fight insurgency

    He said that the UAV had a maximum Altitude capacity of 10,000 feet; cruise speed of 86.4kts; endurance limit of 5.8h hours and with a range of 923 kilometres and an engine capacity of 17hp.

    Other components of the UAV, otherwise known as drone is that it is fully composite and a micro pilot avionics.

    He said that the raw materials used in developing both the UAV and UGV were sourced within the country.

    According to him, both equipment were designed and manufactured by the Air Development and Research Centre.

    He said that the key thing in all was the intellectual capacity that brought the innovation together to a functioning unit that could be used for military purposes.

    NAN

  • El-Rufai signs N216bn, 2018 budget into law

    El-Rufai signs N216bn, 2018 budget into law

    Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has signed the N216.55 billion, 2018 budget passed by the State House of Assembly into law.

    The budget is made up of N131.1 billion capital expenditure and N85.44 billion recurrent expenditure.

    El-Rufai signed the budget at a ceremony at the Government House in Kaduna on Tuesday.

    “We have deliberately tagged it as Budget of Consolidation, because it is the last full annual budget before the 2019 election,’’ he said.

    He said the budget was designed “to complete many projects we have commenced in the service of our people”.

    “As I said while presenting the budget, we have published a record number of tenders as we try to achieve the goals outlined in our manifesto, these tenders have led to the commencement of many projects across the state.

    “We have looked at inherited projects that we considered feasible and viable, some of these have been completed, but others are at various stages of completion,’’ El Rufai said.

    The State House of Assembly had passed the N216 billion budget into law with an increase of N100 million.

    Read Also: Anyone standing to challenge Buhari is wasting his time – El-rufai

  • Kaduna CAN urges Christians, Muslims to shun religious bigotry

    Kaduna CAN urges Christians, Muslims to shun religious bigotry

    The Christian Association of Nigeria( CAN ), Kaduna Chapter, has urged Muslims and Christians to shun religious bigotry so as to  make Nigeria a greater country in the comity of nations.

    The Secretary of the chapter, Rev. Sunday Ibrahim, made the call when he received gift items donated by some  advocates of inter-faith harmony led by Hajiya Maryam Abubakar in Kaduna on Tuesday.

    He commended the initiative of Hajiya Maryam and her colleagues, saying that it would go a long way toward promoting religious harmony in Kaduna State in particular and the entire country.

    “We are really grateful seeing Muslim women coming to the CAN’s  Secretariat to donate Christmas gifts.

    “This is really impressive and these are some of the ways to boost religious tolerance and better understanding between Muslims and Christian.

    “ We must join hands together in tackling religious extremism and promote forgiveness, peace and unity among all the people of Nigeria,” he said.

    Read also: Gowon, Dogara task Northern Christians on unity, love

    Earlier, a group of Muslim women under the aegis of ‘Ambassadors of Peace’ donated gifts including Christmas trees and Santa Claus caps to CAN in the spirit of the yuletide season.

    Speaking at the presentation of the items, Abubakar said the donation was part of their contribution toward promoting peace, harmony, love, togetherness and inter-religious tolerance in a multi-religious society such as Kaduna State.

    Abubakar said their visit to the CAN secretariat was aimed at strengthening inter-religious tolerance and promoting understanding among adherents of  different faiths in the state.

    The peace ambassador said: “We are from one family under God because Adam and Eve were our original biological parents and we, as Muslims believe in the Bible and love Jesus Christ too.

    “Christmas season is a period of joy and happiness to every Christian all over the world and we, as Muslims decided to donate some Christmas trees and Father Christmas caps to CAN leaders in the state.

    “This is to promote good relationship with our neighbours in view of the fact that Christians are our good friends and neighbours.”

    According to her, it is not the first time she and her colleagues are donating Christmas gifts to churches in Kaduna for the purpose of enhancing religious tolerance and peace building.

    “Two years ago, we fed about 500 Christian inmates in the spirit of Christmas and New Year celebration in Kaduna prison.

    “We fed them in the spirit of togetherness and to join them in celebrating the birth of our noble Jesus Christ.

    “We want them to have a good taste of food with beef different from what they were offered inside the prison,” she added.

    In her remark, another member of the group, Hajiya Ramatu Tijjani said: “Christians are our best friends and we choose to come to CAN to donate these items this time because we believe that CAN is the mother of all Christian bodies.

    “We came today to say `Merry Christmas to all our brothers and sisters who are  Christians all over the world, and Happy New Year in advance.

    “We want to maintain this kind of peaceful co-existence between Christians and Muslims in the state in order for us to team up and  nd all forms of ethno-religious and political crises bedevilling peace and stability in the northern part of the country.”

    She also advocated the establishment of an institute of comparative religious studies which, according to her, can proffer solutions to ethno-religious crises in the country.

    NAN

  • NUPENG hails govt for Kaduna, Warri refineries maintenance

    NUPENG hails govt for Kaduna, Warri refineries maintenance

    Members of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas, (NUPENG) have hailed the Federal Government for the ongoing Turn Around maintenance (TAM) at Warri and Kaduna refineries.

    They warned that it should not affect the job of any employee.

    The union made the statement in a communiqué it issued after its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Port Harcourt.

    The document, read to reporters by the National President, Achese Igwe, warned that the TAM should not be a gimmick, or process towards the sale of the facilities by the government.

    He said: “The meeting looked into the state of the refineries with regards to the functionality and efficiency, vis-a-vis the ongoing Turn Around Maintenance (TAM), for Warri and Kaduna refineries. We praise the Federal Government for the activities at the refineries, but warn that they should not lead to joblessness.”

    Igwe hailed the efforts of management of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to rehabilitate and recommission all the SPSEs, PPMC and Marine logistic strategic depots across the country and stressed that the initiative would create jobs and boost the economy.

    ”We are reiterating our opposition against any attempt to put the refinery or the strategic depot for sale as they are national assets that should be rehabilitated, preserved to reduce the massive importation of petroleum products and boost economic activities at the local and national level.”

    The people argued that the government plan to establish modular refineries is misdirected and should therefore be discarded.

    They noted that the role of the government is to provide an enabling environment for the smooth operation of modular refineries.

  • Police brought me to Abuja in chains, handcuffed my hands -BudgIT staff

    Police brought me to Abuja in chains, handcuffed my hands -BudgIT staff

    A worker with civic technology organization, BudgIT Nigeria, Moses Motoni, on Wednesday narrated how he was chained, handcuffed and driven to Abuja by police officers.

    He was arrested by the police in Kaduna for sensitizing some Niger state residents on budget tracking.

    Motoni, who spoke to journalists in Abuja on his experience, explained that he was not informed about his crime or the complainant.

    According to him, the policemen simply said he was being arrested for “inciting the populace and trying to impeach the Emir of Bida.

    Motoni’s troubles began when he visited the Bida, Niger State last Friday to sensitize residents of the Niger South Senatorial District on the zonal intervention projects awarded to their constituency in the 2017 Budget.

    The exact project was the “installation of transformers and electrification of the following communities: Nowanya-Tawadzuru tiffin-Emitswachi-Tawadzuru Tako in Gbako LGA, Niger South Senatorial District, Niger State-N25m,” as stated in the 2017 Appropriation Act.

    Moroni was however arrested on Monday after he was tricked into visiting the DHL office at Markafi market, Kaduna to pick a parcel where he was forcefully taken into a vehicle and brought to Abuja by policemen who disguised as DHL personnel.

    The BudgIT worker explained that he simply enlightened the people about constituency projects in their communities and how to track the budget for it.

    Motoni said he was surprised by allegations that he wanted to incite the public and impeach the traditional ruler in Niger.

    He said: “I was arrested in Kaduna and being driven from there to Abuja was hell for me because I was handcuffed in both legs and my elbows were handcuffed to a chair which dislocated my joints.

    “I wasn’t actually sitting down, I squatted from Kaduna to Abuja which was a journey of about two and a half hours.

    “It was when I got to Abuja that I was properly debriefed about the reason for my arrest.”

    Motoni denied that his engagement with the Bida community would lead to a breach of the peace, noting that the idea of budget tracking was to encouraged the community members to engage their representatives at the National Assembly and ensure the budgeted projects  are implemented.

    “They (policemen) said they got a complaint that I was trying to incite the public, create a breach of trust and impeach the Emir. But this is not true, I went to the community to educate the people on how they can engage their representatives on the implementation of the projects,” he stated.

    He said he was not cowed by the police, noting that he would still visit Niger State to continue his advocacy work.

    “With my experience with the so far, I am still going to go to Niger State, because I love doing this job, I love encouraging the community about the projects because they go a long way in stardardising the community’s standards of living,” he noted.

    The Team Lead, BudgIT Nigeria, Oluseun Onigbinde explained that the budget tracking project was meant to simplify the budget and create citizens awareness about the fiscal document so they could demand accountability.

    He condemned Motoni’s arrest which he alleged was instigated by the National Assembly representatives from the area.

    He explained that Senator Sani Mohammed had put a phone call to Motoni, inviting him to a meeting in his house which he declined because BudgIT tracking personnel were not allowed to meet with public officials privately.

    Onigbinde said, “After this, we believe the senator reached out to the Nigeria police and accused Motoni of plotting to topple the Emir of Bida following which he was arrested, handcuffed and taken to SARS’ office in Abuja. We condemn this abuse of power by the police and we plan to take up the issue with President Buhari, the and the Senate President; We would also reach out to the United Nations and the United States on this issue.”

  • 1,070 Nigerians died in road accidents – NBS

    1,070 Nigerians died in road accidents – NBS

    The National Bureau of Statistics ( NBS ) said on Wednesday  that at least 1,070 Nigerians died in road accidents in the third quarter of this year.

    The NBS Road Transport Data for Third Quarter, 2017 posted on its website on Wednesday showed that 89 out of the victims were children.

    The report stated that 981 of the 1,070 Nigerians that died, representing 91.7 per cent of the figure were adults while the remaining 89 Nigerians, representing 8.3 per cent of the figure were children.

    The breakdown of the figure showed that 815 of the number were males, representing 76.2 per cent while 255 were females, representing 23.8 per cent.

    According to the report, 2,478 road accidents occurred in the third quarter.

    It, however, attributed the major cause of accidents to speed violation, which it said accounted for 44.51 per cent of the total accidents reported in the quarter.

    It stated that loss of control and dangerous driving followed closely as they both accounted for 10.41 per cent and 9.52 per cent of the total accident recorded respectively.

    Meanwhile, the report stated that a total of 6,803 Nigerians got injured in the accidents.

    Read also: Nigeria’s population hits 193.3m, says NBS report

    It stated that 6,419 of the 6,803 Nigerians that got injured, representing 94.4 per cent of the figure were adults while the remaining 384 Nigerians, representing 5.7 per cent of the figure were children.

    It further stated that 5,110 male Nigerians, representing 75 per cent, got injured in road accidents in the quarter while 1,693 female Nigerians, representing 25 per cent got injured.

    According to the report, estimated vehicle population in Nigeria as at third quarter was put at 11,547,236 with the total population of the country puts at 193.3 million in 2016.

    It stated Nigeria s vehicle per population ratio was put 0.06

    In addition, it stated that data on the category of vehicles involved in road accident reflected that 58 per cent of vehicles were commercial (2,000), 40.6 per cent were private (1,401), 1.4 per cent were government (48) and the remaining were diplomat (0).

    It stated that FCT recorded the highest number of road crashes in the quarter, closely followed by Kaduna and Kogi States while Borno and Bayelsa States recorded the least.

    The report stated that 200,565 national driver’s licenses were produced in the period under review.

    It stated that Lagos and FCT produced the highest number of driver’s licenses while Zamfara and Kebbi produced the least numbers of national driver’s license.

    Similarly, it stated that 75,958 vehicle number plates were produced in the quarter.

    It also stated that Delta and FCT produced the highest number of vehicle plate numbers while Ekiti and Rivers produced the least numbers of vehicle plate numbers in the quarter.

    NAN

  • Kaduna Inferno consumes 700 shops – Market chairman

    Kaduna Inferno consumes 700 shops – Market chairman

    The Friday fire incident at Old Panteka Market, Tudun Wada, Kaduna, consumed about 700 shops and affected the jobs of about 30,000 youths, the Chairman of the Market, Suleiman Shehu, has said.

    Shehu made the disclosure in Kaduna on Tuesday, when Dr Ja’afaru Sa’ad, ( Galadiman Ruwan Zazzau ), visited the market officials to offer his sympathy.

    He explained that the fire, which started around 1 a.m. on Friday, affected mostly timber and building materials sections, and consumed an estimated 100 trailer load of timbers and 200 machines.

    According to him, about 30,000 youths, doing all kinds of jobs lost their jobs and source of livelihood as a result of the fire.

    He said that the estimated total loss to the fire was yet to be ascertained, but added that a committee had been set up to determine the exact lost in monetary terms to the fire incident.

    “The committee will also determine the actual cause of the fire and how to avoid future occurrence.

    “We are appealing to government agencies and well meaning Nigerians to come to our aid.

    “Although Gov. Nasir El-Rufai, National Emergency Management Agency ( NEMA ) and the Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency have visited us, we need assistance in cash and in kind to help our members recover from this unquantifiable loss “the chairman said.

    Earlier, Sa’ad explained that he was at the market to sympathise with the market officials and the affected shop owners.

    Read also: WAEC loses 10 computers to fire in Kaduna

    He also called on the state government, NEMA, groups and individuals to come to the aid of the victims to alleviate heir sufferings.

    “This is urgent, particularly as the market remains a source of livelihood for thousands of youths in the state and a huge source of revenue for the state.

    “One would only imagine what could happen to the 30,000 youths who lost their means of livelihood to the inferno.

    “We must do something fast, otherwise we will have a huge problem of youth restiveness in our hands’’, he said.

    Sa’ad is a Technical Assistant in the office of the Executive Director of Finance and Administration for the Nigeria Sao Tome and Principe Joint Development Authority ( NSPJDA ).

    NAN

  • Senate begins oversight of Kaduna Power Plant

    The Senate Joint Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy and Gas will begin an on-the-spot assessment of the 215-Megawatt Kaduna Power Plant today.

    Co-Chairman of the committee and Chairman, Senate Committee on Gas, Bassey Akpan, spoke in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

    Akpan said the Kaduna plant oversight was part of the committee’s investigation into alleged inconsistencies in the contract implementation of the facility and its failure to generate electricity.

    He said similar oversight would be conducted in other gas plants to ascertain their functionality.

    “We are doing an on-the-spot assessment of the plant on Monday (today) and we will also be visiting every other gas-producing facility across the country next week.

    “The revelations we have are quite disheartening. By the time we are done, and we do our final report, it will be an eye-opener on the rot in the power sector.

    “The minister will definitely be invited because he is not bigger than the Senate.

    “We will give another date by the time we are done with the site visits.”

    Akpan vowed that the committee will see to the end of the investigation, saying “if we must move forward as a country we must do the right thing”.

    The joint committee, at its investigative hearing on November 27, ordered that the planned commission be suspended for inconsistencies in contract implementation, pending conclusion of its investigation.

    The committee was dissatisfied with reasons given by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Mr Louis Edozie, who defended the change of parameters of the plant from a gas-powered to diesel-powered plant.

    The committee expressed reservation about the rationale behind converting the plant from gas-powered to diesel, which is more expensive, and expressed its displeasure with the discrepancies in contract figures presented by the ministry and the consultant.

    The Senate, on June 15, mandated the joint committee to investigate the Kaduna 215-Megawatt Power Plant’s failure to generate electricity.

    The project was approved in 2009 with an expected completion date of 2012.

  • Polio: UNICEF immunizes 2m children in four states

    Polio: UNICEF immunizes 2m children in four states

    The Global Affairs Canada (GAC) in conjunction with UNICEF said it immunized more than two million children in rural communities of Jigawa, Niger, Taraba and Zamfara states in the past one year.
    Dr. Esther Obinya, a UNICEF health specialist and the National Coordinator of the Hard To Reach (HTR) project, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jalingo on Saturday, that the initiative of reaching rural communities with vaccines was recording a lot of success.
    She disclosed that the HTR project was able to reach more than 900,000 pregnant women in the four states with ante-natal and post-natal services and commodities within the period.
    Obinya stated that the HTR, which is aimed at eradicating polio and strengthening health care in remote communities, is enjoying support from the federal, state and local governments in all the four high-risk states where the project is ongoing.
    She disclosed that more than 3,000 settlements had been visited at least three times since the project began in March 2016.
    She identified security breach occasioned by the frequent communal clashes, hazardous terrains, political interference and getting the right technical personnel, especially, Nurse-Midwives as the major challenges of the project.
    The Bill and Melinda-Gates foundation had carried out similar exercises in Borno, Yobe, Kaduna, Bauchi, Katsina, and Kano with very good results, she said.
    Obinya, who was in Taraba to supervise the Quarter 3, 2017 Review Meeting of GAC/HTR for Jigawa, Niger, Taraba, and Zamfara states, also called on the benefiting states to work assiduously to sustain the project which would end in December 2018.
    Delegates from the four states had earlier undertaken field trips to some Hard to Reach communities in Ardo-Kola and Jalingo Local Government.
    NAN recalls that the World Health Assembly had in 2012 asked the World Health Organisation to formulate a programme that would eradicate polio worldwide when it was discovered that Nigeria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan had remained the three most endemic countries that were left with polio.
  • El-Rufai adopts children of late Education Commissioner

    El-Rufai adopts children of late Education Commissioner

    …to rename school, hospital after him, cite poly campus in Nok town

     

    Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai has announced his resolve to adopt the three children, of the late Commissioner of Education, Science and Technology, Professor Jonathan Andrew Nok.

    This was also as he said the state government will sponsor education of the three children of the late Commissioner up to Phd level.

    Governor El-Rufai made the disclosure at Kaduna Government House on Friday during the valedictory executive session held in honour of the late Professor Nok.

    The Governor also said, that one of the state’s secondary schools and an health institution would be named after the Professor who served meritoriously as the state Commissioner for Health and Human Services and later Commissioner for Education.

    Governor El-Rufai who broke down while speaking about his over 40 years of friendship with the late Professor and the indelible marks he left behind as a Commissioner, said a campus of the Kaduna State Polytechnic will be sited in Nok, the home town of the late Professor Andrew Jonathan Nok.

    His colleagues, the Commissioners and other top government functionaries shed tears as they eulogised the late Professor.

    Born on February 11, 1962 in Ungwar Rimi, Kaduna, Professor Nok was appointed Commissioner for Health and Human Services in August 2015. In that office, he pushed the programme to equip 255 primary health centres with tools to save infants and pregnant women.

    Following a cabinet reshuffle, he moved to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in 2016, where has championed the renovation and rehabilitation of schools, the training of teachers and the provision of better learning aids.

    The late commissioner was a professor of Biochemistry at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Acknowledged in the science community for his contributions, Professor Nok won the Alexander Humboldt prize in 2013 for his research into finding a cure for trypanosomiasis.

    In 2009, he won the NLNG prize for identifying the gene responsible for the enzyme which causes sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis). The Federal Government of Nigeria also honoured him with the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM).