The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Kano

  • Forum repositions APC to win Kano

    Determined to sack the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Kano Government House in 2015, a forum has emerged from the newly formed All Progressive Congress (APC) with a mission to ensure internal democracy, unity and equity in the new political platform.

    Addressing reporters in Kano Press Centre yesterday, Hon. Umar El-Yakub, a former lawmaker and chairman of the forum said the new organisation will do everything possible within its power not to allow any individual to hijack the APC structure in Kano, pointing out that, “our coming together is to chat a new course that will allow all aspirants to realise their aspirations within the framework of the party rules and regulations.

    According to him, “the forum shall resist with all force, any attempt by any person or persons to use the forum to satisfy his/her or their personal and selfish interest. This forum is an APC forum for all APC members and any person who genuinely identifies with and will work for the attainment of APC ideals.”

    El-Yakub noted that the forum remains conscious of the enormity of the challenges that may confront it, “we are also conscious of the fact that the mission of the forum is heavily tasking, but it is absolutely necessary and vital for the socio-political wellbeing of Kano State, as such, no sacrifice will be too big to make from its members in other to attain the desired goal.”

     

  • Group empowers 225 youths

    The President of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarding (NAGAFF),Mr Eugene Nweke, said the association had empowered 225 youths on freight forwarding in Katsina State.

    Nweke disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Lagos.

    He said that the youths were undergoing training in freight forwarding to enhance their capacity in the profession.

    Nweke also said that some youths had also been re-enrolled in the state owned-institutions for further professional exposure.

    He said that the association would open more branches in states in the North to empower youths in freight forwarding.

    “NAGAFF is already in Kano and Abuja and the association will continue to expand on this,” he said.

    Nweke said that some youths in Jibia in Kastina were also furthering their education on freight forwarding.

    He said that the association would partner with other government agencies to empower the youths.

     

  • Kano partners shelter firm on N20b estate

    Kano partners shelter firm on N20b estate

    Kano State Governor Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso has laid the foundation for the construction of an estate named Evergreen Residences, comprising 108 housing units at Lokogoma, Durumi district in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.

    The estate is to  cost N20 billion.

    The project, a collaborative effort between the state government and a private estate developer, Urban Shelter Ltd, is sited on 6.411 hectares of land which will consist of three- bedroom apartments, 4 bedroom terrace, and 4, 5 and 6 bedroom maisonettes.

    Governor Kwankwaso who spoke on the project,  explained that it  is part of his administration’s thrust to promote partnership with the private sector for efficient service delivery and improving the economic base of the state.

    The governor said the state government almost lost the plot to unscrupulous persons because the past administration in the state failed to develop it, pointing out that the intervention of the serving

    FCT Minister facilitated restoration of the land to the state.

    He said the state government was able to retrieve the land on which The Promenade estate will be built through the singular effort of the FCT Minister, Sen. Bala Mohammed.

    He said the housing units to be built at the Lokogoma site will complement the already existing ones being constructed by the same Urban Shelter consisting of 100 units at the cost of N9 billion.

    He said Kano State government is constructing almost 1,400 housing units in three different sites within the state consisting of Amana City, Kwankwasiyya City and Bandarawo City all of which have reached 80 percent completion.

    He charged the contractors handling the estate project to ensure completion within the agreed time frame.

    In his speech, the Chairman, Urban Shelter Ltd, Alhaji Ibrahim Aliyu, assured that the project will be completed in 18 months, stressing that his company is unwavering in meeting the housing challenge of Nigerians.

    On his part, the chairman of the occasion and former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida praised the Kwankwaso administration for the prudent utilisation of public funds and property, hoping that the estate project will help reduce the housing insufficiency in Nigeria.

    The occasion was graced by public figures including Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, the Etsu Nupe, the Emirs of Minna and Lapai as well as the representative of the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero.

     

  • ‘Epileptic power supply forces 400 firms to shut down in Kano’

    The Kano State chapter of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has said unstable power supply has led to the sack of 400,000 factory workers.

    MAN, which decried the situation at a media briefing in Kano yesterday through its National Vice President, North-West Zone, Alhaji Ali S. Madugu, said the unemployment rate in the state was alarming.

    It noted that if the government continued to exhibit nonchalance towards the power sector, the country may be doomed economically.

    Madugu said the closure of 400 manufacturing companies in Kano followed the inability of the sector to access the required volume of power.

    He also decried the lack of transparency in the allocation of power to the city, adding that this had made it unbearable for manufacturers in the zone.

    Madugu said the data on market activities report in May indicated that Kano zone, which comprises Kano, Jigawa, Niger and Niger Republic, was given 77,047,790 KW/HR.

    He said this was about 100 megawatts (MW), representing 3.6 per cent of the total allocation nationwide.

     

  • Kano holds pre-retirement workshop tomorrow

    The Kano State Government will hold its maiden pre-retirement workshop for its civil servants tomorrow.

    The workshop, it was learnt, is meant to prepare civil servants for the challenges of retirement.

    The Head of Service (HOS), Dr Umar Shehu Minjibir, told reporters yesterday in Kano that the workshop is part of the programmes for this year’s Public Service Day.

    It will also expose them to the reality of life and acquaint them with basic business transactions.

    Minjibir said Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso introduced the workshop for the retirees to enable them become conversant with new concepts of businesses they intend to go into.

    According to him, there are lucrative ventures, such as fisheries, animal husbandry, farming, poultry and merchandising, which retiring civil servants can do.

    The HOS said such businesses would so that at the close of the day they will depend on the government for survival but be independent.

    He said there were instances when some retirees ventured into businesses they were not conversant with and ended such businesses abruptly.

    Minjibir added that the Kano State Government has reviewed upwards the monthly take-home of retirees by 300 per cent.

    According to him, the minimum monthly take-home of a pensioner is N5,000.

    Mijibir said six junior and senior dedicated and outstanding civil servants would be rewarded by the governor.

    The theme of the celebration is: Transformative E-Government and Innovation: Creating a Better Future for All.

  • Kano arms discovery: Court reserves judgment

    Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has reserved judgment in the suit filed by the three Lebanese being held over their alleged involvement in terrorism activities in the country.

    Abdullahi Thaini, Mustapha Fawaz and Tahal Roda are being held by the State Security Service (SSS) over the recent discovery of a cache of firearms and ammunition in a house at Kano.

    They had filed a fundamental rights’ enforcement application challenging their arrest and continued detention.

    The suit has the SSS, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) as defendants.

    The suspects faulted the closure of their business premises by security agents.

    They are also demanding a public apology from the defendants, which they want published in three national newspapers and N50 billion compensation.

    The lawyer to the suspects, Robert Clarke (SAN), yesterday replied to the argument by state’s attorney, Clifford Osagie. Clarke averred that the SSS observed due process in the suspects’ arrest and continued detention.

    He faulted Osagie’s argument on the grounds that the warrants for detention, on which basis his clients were being detained, were allegedly obtained from incompetent courts.

    The lawyer also said the Magistrate’s courts, from which the warrants were obtained, have no jurisdiction on terrorism, for which his clients were arrested.

    Clarke averred that by taking his client before Magistrate’s courts, in Kano and Abuja, they were held on holding charges, which are illegal in the country.

     

  • Kano Hezbollah Armoury: Tahir Slams N10 Billion Suit Against Leadership Newspaper

    Kano Hezbollah Armoury: Tahir Slams N10 Billion Suit Against Leadership Newspaper

    The chairman of the Lebanese community in Kano and owner of 5-star Tahir Guest Palace Limited, Tahir Fadillala has sued the Leadership Group, publishers of Leadership newspaper for libelous publication against him.

    Tahir is demanding N10 billion from the leadership Newspapers management over alleged libelous publication contained in its May 31, 2013 edition, in which the Kano businessman was named as one of the suspects being interrogated by security agents in connection with the Hezbollah weapons uncovered in a bunker in Kano recently.

    In a writ of summons and statement of claim filed by, Barrister Ahmed Raji [SAN], Counsel to plaintiff, Tahir and his company, Tahir Guest Palace are asking for N5 billion each from the Newspaper Company and one Bala El- Nafaty mentioned in the suit as co-defendant.

    According to the plaintiff, the said publication titled, “Owners of Amingo Stores and Tahir Hotels arrested” was designed to defame his character and tarnish the reputation of his businesses, “it was a malicious publication,” he insisted.

    The plaintiffs also sought an injunction from the court to restrain the defendants, their agents from further publishing defamatory materials against them; they prayed the court to award N100million as cost of litigation.

    It would be recalled that security in agents in Kano on may 30, this year, intercepted a bunker with assorted weapons of mass destruction in a house belonging to a prominent Kano based Lebanese businessman in the Kano high-brow Bompai estate. The shock discovery led to the arrest of three other member of the Lebanese community.

  • Kano Hisbah arrests child ‘trafficker’

    A 25-year-old man was yesterday apprehended by officials of the Kano Hisbah Board for alleged child trafficking.

    The board also confiscated fake drugs worth over N5 million from a dealer in Sabon Gari, Kano.

    The Director-General of Hisbah Board, Mallam Abba Sa’id Sufi, told The Nation that the suspect confessed that he specialised in kidnapping children and selling them for between N35,000 and N60,000 per child.

    Sufi quoted the suspect as saying that he has a buyer in Katsina State but could not explain what his accomplice does with the children.

    The suspect was yesterday handed over to the police command for further investigation and prosecution.

    The Hisbah chief said the suspect hails from Gwale Local Government Area of Kano State, adding that his name would not be disclosed until the conclusion of investigation.

    Sufi said the suspect was caught with a five-year-old girl, who the man said he was taking to Dawanu on Katsina Road where somebody else would pick her up and settle him.

    The suspect reportedly confessed to being involved in the crime for about three years.

     

  • Kano explosion victims yet to get compensation

    Kano explosion victims yet to get compensation

    The families of the March 18 terror attack on the New Road Luxury Park, Kano, are still awaiting compensation from the federal government, 82-days after.

    The attack left 39 passengers, passers-by and traders in the area dead and 79 injured, according to official figures.

    The management of the park, yesterday decried what it called the nonchalant attitude of the federal authorities to the sufferings of the bereaved families.

    The secretary of the Association of Luxury Bus Owners of Nigeria, Kano branch, Mr. Godson Nwokoma, said at a memorial service for the victims in Kano that while the state government intervened to foot the bills of the injured, no form of succour has come in from the federal government.

    The bereaved families, he said, are worried by the delay of the federal government in fulfilling its promise to assist them.

    Nwokoma said: “We are aware that government has been doing its best on this issue, but much still needs to be done. We receive calls from the family of the victims and we have been assuring them that government will come to their rescue. We have also been receiving help from nongovernmental organisations, especially, the ECWA Church.

    “The church has been very supportive in terms of prayers and words of encouragement. They have also donated food items and financial support to the wounded victims. As we gather here today, we have the hope that God will listen to our prayers and avert calamities of this magnitude. In spite of what happened to us, we do believe in the unity and progress of Nigeria. This is our country and we are determined to live in peace and harmony with the host community,” he said.

    Also speaking, Eze Ndigbo in Kano, Chief Boniface Ibekwe, commended President Goodluck Jonathan for what he called “the decisive action he has taken by imposing State of Emergency in three states. This action by Mr. President has gone a long way to curtail the antics of the Boko Haram insurgents in this part of the country.”

    He said the Igbo “will remain in Kano and we will protect our investments. We will continue to live in peace with our host community,” despite the Boko Haram crisis.

    He pleaded with government to come to the assistance of the bereaved families.

  • Kano bus bomb victims plead for compensation

    Eighty two days after the devastating terrorists attack on the New Road Luxury Park, the management of the Park on Saturday in Kano have cried out over the lack of compensation for  victims of March 18 bomb attack in the park.

    The Secretary of the Association of Luxury Bus Owners of Nigeria, Kano branch, Godson Nwokoma during the remembrance ceremony for the victims said families of the deceased were yet to receive any form of compensation from the government.

    He, however, commended Kano state government for footing the bills of the wounded who were admitted in various hospitals across the state, while stating that only 39 people were confirmed dead in the attack and 79 wounded.

    According to him, the families of the deceased are in agony and they continue to express worry over the delay by the Federal Government to fulfill its promise of assisting them.

    “We are aware that government has been doing its best over this issue, but much still need to be done. We receive several calls from the family of the victims and we have been assuring them that government will come to their rescue. We have also been receiving help from nongovernmental organizations, especially, the ECWA Church.

    “The ECWA Church has been very supportive in terms of prayers and words of encouragement. They have also donated food items and financial support to the wounded victims. As we gather here today, we have the hope that God will listen to our prayers and avert calamities of this magnitude. In spite of what happened to us, we do believe in the unity and progress of Nigeria. This is our country and we are determined to live in peace and harmony with the host community,” he said.

     

    only way that we can survive these bad times.”