The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Katsina State

  • NAFDAC, BOI, partners Katsina corps members on self-employment

    THE Katsina State branch of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Saturday in Katsina, announced its readiness to assist NYSC corps members posted to the state, to secure loan facilities  that will enable them engage in meaningful entrepreneurship after their passing out.

    The state representative of the agency, Alhaji Abubakar Musa, who made the declaration while on a visit to the 2019 Batch B stream II Corps Members, deployed to Katsina State also sensitised them on how to access the loans and create wealth through entrepreneurship that guarantees self-employment.

    Read Also: NAFDAC: Eva water safe for drinking

    He further counseled them on the need to get their businesses registered and stem the growing youth unemployment in the country.

    The NAFDAC boss also highlighted the importance of food preservation and food businesses which according to him will go a long way to protect the wellbeing of mankind.

    He said “please feel free to expose anyone found doing food or drug business using fake NAFDAC number in any community they may find themselves in Katsina”.

    In a related development, the Bank of Industry (BOI) has also sensitised corps members on how to access loans to promote their businesses.

     

     

  • An appalling bandit culture

    APPEASEMENT. That seems to be the name of the game these days, as bandits operate freely in some parts of the North. Some 10 days ago or so, the Katsina State governor, Aminu Masari, engaged bandits in negotiation to end banditry and their destabilising and disruptive activities in some parts of the state. He probably had no choice. He had cried out repeatedly that his state was under siege, inundated with banditry. And since he did not possess the security apparatus to end or even curb the menace, and because his entreaties to Abuja had also met with qualified failure, he simply damned the unethicalness of negotiating with criminals and proceeded to dialogue with the tormentors of his people. Peace at all costs.

    After all, a few years back, the Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, also negotiated with Fulani herdsmen whom he claimed were terrorising parts of his state, and paid them off to fend off further attacks and bloodshed. He was roundly condemned at the time, but he was too set in his ways to care what anyone thought about his methods. No one is sure Mallam el-Rufai’s tactics bore fruit, nor that further attacks had still not been executed by herdsmen who were mostly Fulani. What is important, according to his own confessions, is that he had negotiated with the masterminds of the violence against his state.

    For a few years, Zamfara State also became the poster boy for banditry in the North, nay in Nigeria. Weeks ago, however, the state government engaged the bandits in negotiations, gave them amnesty, and negotiated peace on certain pecuniary conditions. Banditry has since ceased considerably in Zamfara, a fact loudly celebrated by the state’s political elite and the governor. Given the rush to negotiate with bandits everywhere in the North, at least for now, appeasement may be the answer that proves durable in the short run. The negotiating state governments have, however, not been as transparent on the issue as the public would love them to be concerning just how much they have paid the bandits to secure and sustain the tentative peace the affected states are enjoying. The governors are unlikely to declare the cost of peace in the short run, believing that the alternative is far costlier and too gory to contemplate.

    It was telling, more than a week ago, that the Katsina State governor allowed the publication of a photograph he took with an armed bandit leader after negotiation. The gun-wielding bandit was even more tellingly sandwiched between the governor and a military officer. Perhaps the governor merely wished to illustrate what he was doing, in particular his commitment to the peace process, and his altruism. The other symbolism of the photograph — state helplessness — either escaped him and his advisers or they felt it was a far smaller price to pay for peace.

    Indeed, significantly, the bandits boldly told the government that soldiers and policemen, by their unprofessionalism, contributed immensely to the breakdown of peace and upsurge in banditry. According to the negotiating bandits, the unbearable extortionist inclination of law enforcement agents and their repressive and arbitrary methods had a triggering and catalysing effect upon banditry. Said one of the bandit leaders, Idris Yayande, who met and dialogued with the governor last Wednesday: “Soldiers, policemen and other security agencies are fuelling banditry, kidnapping and other heinous crimes through large scale extortion in return for their support to us. We have lost confidence in them. We prefer to work with the local vigilante.”

    According to a report by this newspaper, “The leader of Volunteers (Yan-sakai), Lawal Tsoho, also accused soldiers, policemen, other security agencies and some politicians in the state of working against the ongoing dialogue between the bandits and the state government because they are benefiting from banditry, explaining that he had evidence to prove his statement.” Any wonder the governor chose to negotiate? If law enforcement agents are too busy betraying their oath, as indeed everyone fears, a state governor has precious little elbow room to manoeuvre.

    Overwhelmed by insecurity everywhere, and still shorn of the presence of mind to recognise that lack of security both signposts and presages terrible times ahead, the government has desperately sought to involve sundry militias, some of them ethnic, in policing this vast country. Soldiers can hardly be relied on to get the job done neatly, and policemen are not any better; such a horrifying combination transmogrifies the governing paradigm from one of constitutionality and methodicalness in ruling the nation to one of peace secured at its most ignoble and expedient worst. It will be a mistake to focus on the jarring metaphor of armed bandits openly negotiating with governors and thereafter posing for group photographs, or to use such short-sighted showiness to condemn the state chief executives. The problem of insecurity is a very complex one embedded in how the country is structured and run, in this case by irresponsible and unthinking elites. Until the fundamental problems predisposing the country to anarchy are addressed, the nation will continue to witness short-term panaceas and futile solutions. In fact, these objectionable negotiations, not to say the collaborations between law enforcement and security agencies on the one hand and civilian militias on the other hand, indicate what little time the country has left to rejigger itself before apocalypse.

  • Katsina bandits to end attacks for members’ release

    FOURTEEN groups of bandits in Faskari and Kankara Local Government Areas of Katsina State on Thursday offered to swap the victims in their custody in exchange for their members arrested by security operatives during attacks.

    A leader of one of the gangs, identified simply as Alhaji Mansuni, spoke on behalf of the others.

    Mansuni spoke with Governor Aminu Bello Masari on Thursday on the second day of their dialogue meeting at Angwa Tsamia Primary School, Birni Gogo in Faskari Local Government Area.

    The repentant bandit leader said the groups were pleased with the governor’s moves to ensure peaceful coexistence among residents of the state and others.

    He urged the government to free fellow bandits and their kinsmen who were in the custody of security operatives.

    Read Also: Banditry: Katsina tackles a difficult enemy

    Mansuni promised to release about 1,000 victims in the custody of the armed gangs and ensure other groups comply.

    The repentant bandit also told the governor that the fear of insecurity, deprivation, indiscriminate arrests and alleged killing of herdsmen by security agents led them to engage in banditry attacks.

    He said: “We are happy by your coming to visit us right in our hideouts. We Fulani have challenges which the government should look into. These include construction of roads, education facilities, provision of infrastructure and good living conditions.

    “Again, indiscriminate arrests by security agencies and extortion by members of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) as well the attitude of the Hausa in rural communities, who refused to coexist with the Fulani, requires that we all sit down and iron out our differences.”

    The Chief Imam of the Fulani, Alhaji Liman Majuna, assured Msari that the bandits were really willing to surrender their arms and embrace government’s amnesty.

    He said: “We have forgiven and forgotten what happened five years ago. We will confront whoever that does not want peace.”

    Governor Masari told the bandits, who turned out en masse, that it was better for them to abandon the bush and killing of their brothers and embrace peace and amnesty.

    He said: “If you gather all the cattle, get all the money in this world and shed innocent blood, there is no benefit in them.

    “You can never defeat government. If you kill 10 soldiers, government will bring 100 more and bring thousands of guns. We will look into your requests, build roads and schools and ensure better quality of lives.”

     

  • Bandits offer to swap victims with arrested members

    A day after they alleged that security operatives were fueling kidnapping in exchange for monetary gains, some bandits in Katsina State on Thursday offered to swap kidnapped victims with their arrested members.

    Fourteen different groups of bandits, operating in Faskari and Kankara local government areas of the state, promised to release the kidnapped victims in exchange for their members who were arrested by security operatives’ in some parts of the council.

    They made the offer to Governor Aminu Bello Masari on the second day of their dialogue with the governor and other critical stakeholders at Angwa Tsamia Primary School, Birni Gogo, Faskari Local Government Area.

    The leader of one of the gangs, Alhaji Mansuni, who spoke for others, said the bandits were pleased with the governor’s presence and his drive to ensure peaceful coexistence in the state and in the country.

    He pledged the bandits’ readiness to reciprocate Masari’s gesture of freeing their kinsmen and fellow bandits from the custody of the security operatives by releasing about 1,000 victims in his custody.

    Mansuni, who promised to prevail on other groups to release their captives, also told the governor that the fear of insecurity, deprivations, and indiscriminate arrest and killings of herdsmen by the security agencies led them to armed banditry.

    Read Also: Fed Govt to rehabilitate Kastina roads

    He said: “We are happy by your coming to visit us right in our hideouts. We Fulani have challenges which government should look into, including construction of roads, education, infrastructure and social living conditions.

    “Again, indiscriminate arrest by security agencies and extortion by members of SARS, as well the attitude of the Hausa in the rural communities who refused to coexist with the Fulani, requires we all sit down and iron out our differences.”

    The Chief Imam of the Fulani, Alhaji Liman Majuna, assured the governor that the bandits were willing to surrender and embrace the amnesty offer of the government.

    He said: “We have forgiven and forgotten what happened five years ago; we will confront whoever that does not want peace.”

    Masari told the bandits the importance of abandoning the bush and killing of their brothers. He urged them to embrace peace and amnesty.

    The governor said: “If you gather all the cattle, get all the money in this world and shed innocent blood, there is no benefit.

    “You can never defeat the government. If you kill 10 soldiers, the government will bring 100 more and also bring thousands of guns. We will look into your requests, build roads and schools and ensure better quality of lives.”

  • Soldiers, policemen fueling banditry, kidnapping, bandits tell Masari

    REPENTANT bandits on Wednesday told Katsina State Governor Aminu Masari that some soldiers and policemen are fueling banditry and kidnapping in the state in return for monetary gain.

    They warned that unless the security operatives stopped their activities and extortion of money and cattle from them, the situation in the state would not change.

    The bandit groups spoke on Wednesday during a dialogue session with the governor at Gbagegi Primary School, Dankolo in Dandume local government area..

    The repentant bandits who met with the governor were drawn from two of the local government areas in the state – Dandume and Sabuwa – worst affected by banditry.

    The state has been under relentless banditry, cattle rustling and kidnapping forcing Governor Masari to initiate the dialogue with bandits.

    Leader of one group of bandits, Idris Yayande ,told the governor that large scale extortion perpetrated by the security operatives had seriously undermined the efforts of government to address  the security challenges.

    He said: ‘Soldiers, policemen and other security agencies are fueling banditry, kidnapping and other heinous crimes through large scale extortion in return for their support to us. We have lost confidence in them. We prefer to work with the local vigilante’’

    Corroborating him, leader of Volunteers (Yan-sakai), Lawal Tsoho, accused soldiers, policemen, other security agencies and some politicians in the state of working against the ongoing dialogue between the bandits and the state government because they are benefiting from banditry. He explained: “I have all evidence to prove my statement”,

    He urged the urged the State to facilitate the release of their members arrested by security agencies and detained in various prisons across the country.

    He said: “Some of our members were apprehended in villages across the state and detained for years without committing offence.”

    Read Also: Buhari hails Masari for progress in Katsina

    Another repentant bandit, Idris Yayande, gave the “names of some of our members arrested and detained in different prisons across the state” and urged the government “to release them before the dialogue.”

    He listed those in detention as: ” Alhaji Lawal Bandu, Ibrahim Nabutamu, Sani Marji, Sani Zafi, Lawal Mairuwa and there are some of our children that were arrested by soldiers in layin-Mahuta last year; Juro, Ali, Adamu, Abdulrahman and since then nobody told us where they are and what happened to them.

    “So, we are pleading with the state government to release them to us. We don’t have anybody in our custody now. We promised before that nobody will farm within this area but because of the dialogue we surrendered. If you hear of any attack it is not from us”.

    Another repentant bandit, Haruna Mazge, blamed the prevailing security problem of the state on farmers “who blocked 70 per cent of the cattle routes”

    “Farmers in the state have blocked all cattle routes. If you look at our problem, consider that of farmers too”, he said.

    Mazge called on other bandits who he said were terrorizing villages in the state to surrender their arms for the sustainability of peace.

    He said: “This forest that we are hiding from is not beyond government’s power. Since the governor has forgiven us, we should not betray government in this dialogue by attacking another village in this state again.”

    Masari assured residents of the state that the dialogue would bring peace to Katsina State, North-West and Nigeria, saying “we believe that we have started well and there is nothing better than peace”.

    The governor restated his commitment to rendering assistance to the Fulani living in the Forest and urged them to embrace dialogue and live peacefully with one another. He promised to rebuild the schools and other decayed infrastructure and address other requests.

  • INEC to protect NYSC members during polls

    THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has promised to protect National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members posted to Katsina State on election duties against insecurity.

    The State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Alhaji Ibrahim Zarewa, made the pledge on Tuesday in Katsina while visiting the state’s NYSC camp to sensitise members of this year’s Batch “B” Stream II deployed in the state.

    Zarewa noted that conducting free and fair elections in the country is everybody’s business, including the corps members.

    Read Also: INEC to distribute 49,819 PVCs

    The REC said tight security will always be provided at each polling unit to ensure the protection of corps members.

    He said corps members have nothing to fear in participating in the conduct of elections.

    Zarewa lauded the credible role corps members played, especially in the handling of the Card Reader at polling units.

    He said: “Please, be ready for the assignment as the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the NYSC and INEC was in the interest of the country.”

  • Banditry: Katsina tackles a difficult enemy

    When bandits seized Katsina State, Governor Aminu Masari’s plans pegged them back. Recent attacks, however, show the criminals are quite resilient. OGOCHUKWU IKEJE writes, with reports from AUGUSTINE OKEZIE

    The attack August 26 on Wurma, a community in Kurfi Local Government Area of State, indicates that bandits are not gentlemen, and are hardly swayed by verbal appeals or other overtures by government. In that assault, various media organs reported that armed men numbering about 100 invaded Wurma at night and went from door to door robbing residents of cash and any item of interest before abducting 49 people. That figure was provided by the district head of the community, Mustapha Muhammad, who told journalists that 12 of the 49 abductees were freed in the morning.

    The police in the state gave a different account of the attack. Fifteen women were abducted, 10 of them rescued, they said.

    The Wurma attack rubbished the proactive plans of the state governor Aminu Masari, as well as the robust tactics of the Northwest state governors to curb the menace of banditry and cattle rustling in the region. On August 1 Masari announced an amnesty by the Northwest governors for kidnappers, cattle thieves and the like if only they would lay down their arms and be of good behaviour.

    Neighbouring states of Kaduna and Zamfara are also on the boil.

    The Wurma abductors made themselves very clear: they would not give up their criminality easily.

    Before the attack, Governor Masari had reason to believe things were pretty much under control. Following our reporter’s tour of eight most hit local government areas in the state, there were indications that the attacks were on the decline and that normalcy was returning to besieged communities.

    Sixty-year-old Hamisu Batsari, a farmer and resident of a village in Batsari Local Government Area of the state, said attacks by bandits and kidnappers were thinning out.

    Hamisu, who lost four of his relations to banditry attacks, near a military checkpoint in Batsari town several months ago, told The Nation: “Alhamdulahi, our place is quiet now, we are farming as usual, we thank the governor and the security agencies for their efforts in curtailing the attacks, I’m also happy with what the local vigilante are doing as well.”

    It was at Batsari that banditry attacks assumed a more dangerous dimension with the killing of innocent farmers on their farmlands, in addition to raping of women and the displacement of several families as IDPs, It is no longer news that about 34 farmers were killed some of whose bodies were publicly buried after having been displayed at both the Emir’s palace and the government house

    Tasiu Mohammed, a 52-year-old civil servant in Jibia Local Government Area, also said the area is safe now and that activities have picked up including farming and trading

    Investigation revealed that several factors might have contributed to the upsurge in banditry attacks and kidnapping in the state, among them poverty, illiteracy, clashes between farmers and herdsmen and complicity by security operatives amongst others.

    Most of the apprehended bandits often complain that poverty contributed mostly in driving them into crime.

    Also, most banditry attacks particularly those in the villages are mainly reprisal attacks involving inter-herdsmen rivalry which often affects farmers.

    Masari said attacks were isolated. Speaking exclusively to The Nation, Masari said, “Our dear state has been witnessing a steady decline in banditry and kidnapping attacks especially in the last few months and there is a steady return to farming and normal activities in most parts of the state. We shall maintain the momentum.”

    Several questions have been asked as to what led to the decline in the spate of banditry attacks and other related crimes in the state. The turnaround could be traced to the pragmatic approach by Governor Masari.

    The Northwest governors also gave generous cash support to security operatives.

    Masari said, “Apart from the logistics, we are giving monthly allowances to army, police NSCDC, vigilante groups, running to almost N100 million every month. We also bought over 50 operational motorcycles for security personnel to chase criminals. The bandits do launch attacks on villages through motorcycles, because most of the roads are not motorable and one can only access them by motorcycle. That was why we bought the motorcycles for security operatives to enhance their patrol. The security personnel are willing to respond to all the distress call but sometimes they get difficulties in reaching the villages because the roads are not motor able.”

    Another bold step taken by the governor to rid the state of the heinous crimes is the signing into law an amended Penal Code law prescribing death sentence for kidnapping and cattle rustling in the state.

    With the law in place, rapists were also sentenced to life imprisonment in addition to fine and compensation to the victims. While signing the law, he affirmed that the law was amended particularly in areas to do with kidnapping, cattle rustling, rape and other related offences.

    Governor Masari told The Nation: “There is a great improvement in security situation in the state, the state Government have encouraged the security operatives seriously including our vigilante group and the result is what we are witnessing today, Katsina is peaceful now and the IDPs have returned to their homes.  We have lots of improvement in all areas including farming, agriculture and commercial activities. If things go like this, everything will be normal. You can visit the villages to see things for yourself.”

    It would please the governor if Wurma attackers and others behaved themselves and gave peace a chance.

  • Here comes Transportation varsity

    The Federal Government’s plan to establish a Transportation University has generated mixed reactions among teachers, experts and industry stakeholders, ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE writes.

    The Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, which will mark its first 100 days in office on Thursday, may soon flag-off a landmark project – a University of Transportation.

    It would be the first specialised institution of its kind, aimed at developing human capital, capable of driving through research, the various transportation interventions being introduced by the administration.

    Transportation Minister Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, who made this known penultimate Friday, said the ground-breaking of the university would take place this month, in Daura, Katsina State.

    The university project is one of the requests from the Chinese government aimed at boosting Nigeria’s capacity to train the manpower required to sustain the ongoing transformation in the sector.

    It would be the nation’s premier tertiary institution for training transport professionals since independence. It is coming 99 years after the International University of Logistics and Transportation (IULT) was founded in Poland, and over 70 years of a similar varsity in Moscow,  Russia.

    Expected to draw inspiration from across the globe, where similar institutions had been established, the university would address manpower training, research and policy, which had been obtained offshore, especially in China.

    According to Amaechi, 150 Nigerians are slated for scholarships in all parts of Transportation Studies in China. While the first set of 60 left in 2016, another set of 60 is expected to proceed next year; the last set would follow later. On their return, they are expected to boost the industry, especially the railway tracks and rolling stocks.

    Since Nigeria’s independence, the transportation sector has remained the most neglected, despite the demand for experts to manage it.

    The only institution that held sway in the sector, until lately, was the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT), established in the 50s by the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), to train its workforce on railway operations.

    The institute was taken over by the Ministry of Transportation, when the railway bankrupted. But the intervention had not impact  the sector, as the institute since inception, has remained a mere appendage and not recognised beyond awarding diploma certificates for short-term courses on transportation, especially rail systems and logistics.

    Transportation studies, in the main, have remained a mere appendage of either departments of Geography or Urban and Regional Planning in many of the recognised federal and state universities across the country.

    That was the story until 2008, when the Lagos State University (LASU) elevated Transportation Studies by establishing a School of Transportation Studies (LASU-SOT), the first, not only in Nigeria, but also in Southern Africa. A similar faculty of transportation existed only in Cairo, Egypt.

    Experts said, if properly nurtured, the project could be the catalyst for the growth and professionalisation of the sector.

    The absence of requisite skills in transportation education, transportation engineering and technology, transportation economics, and other critical adjuncts, have been described as the bane of the economic gloom.

    A transportation and logistics expert, who is also the Director Safety Without Borders (SWB), Mr Patrick Adenusi, blamed the dearth of professionals  on gross and misconceptions about transportation.

    For instance, while Amaechi was excited about the institution, which he enthused, would change the narrative of the sector, critics expressed concern about the need for another specialised institution.

    Though a don with the Ogun State University, Ago Iwoye, is non-pulsed that the university might not be at any cost to the nation, anothr queried the new varsity’s site at Daura, the President’s hometown.

    But they all agreed that the absence of training centres had continued to give rise to the preponderance of touts and quacks whose invasion of the road mode have continued to make a mess of the government’s intervention in terms of provision of rolling stocks aimed at shifting attention to public sector transportation.

    The almost total dominance of the road mode by touts, and transport unions agents, popularly called agberos, has continued to tar transportation with the mud of ignominy and this is despite that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) captured the road sub-sector as responsible for 98 percent of the nation’s travel needs.

    Adenusi urged the handlers of the project to collaborate with the LASU-SOT to develop competent professionals who would be able to hold their own in any field of transportation and logistics.

    “It is also envisaged that the project would not only raise professionals on road mode alone, but also encompass other modes of transportation – air, rail, water and perhaps, pipeline transportation,” he said.

    For him, another major advantage is that the school will increase the capacity of public institutions to admit more young secondary school graduates, many of whom are often in the lurch yearly as stricter measures are released year after year to further restrict admission.

    “Besides, products of the university would also be available to the world market, while Nigeria would be able to earn foreign exchange from foreign students who would come to acquire special skills relating to the sector,’’ he said.

    Adenusi agreed with proponents that the university bodes well for the country, as according to him, it would restore sanity to the sector.

    A member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transportation (CILT), who would not want his name published, said the university would proffer solution to the endemic challenges bedeviling the sector.

    A source at the NITT, Zaria, admitted the project was laudable. He, however, urged the government to prioritise its objectives, set achievable and measurable timelines, and ensure that the Chinese government or the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), does not turn the project into another white sepulchre.

    The source, who did not want his name in print, said failure to do this could derail the project.

    To succeed, the source said, the new university could copy the LASU-SOT template and expand into a full university curriculum. “The curriculum developers need to develop faculties and departments that meet local needs and relevant to the skills readily available in the market. If this is done, government would have prevented the project becoming a mere dumping ground for all expired ideologies and theories which are no longer relevant in the sector.

    Nigeria’s foremost transportation teacher and an advocate of the project, Dr Tajudeen Bawa’Allah, said the government should handle the school over to professionals, who are passionate about the industry, adding that to do otherwise, would be akin to killing it.

    Bawa’Allah, 78, the first LASU-SOT dean, praised the minister for the idea, which according to him, would give transportation studies a place of pride.

    Bawa’Allah, who described transportation as the essence of life and human activity, including procreation, added that no activity is complete without transportation. He described those opposing the idea as ignorant of the pride of place transportation occupies in their lives.

    He challenged the Federal Government to make a success of the dream in the interest of the coming generation. Citing, among others, the impact of the SOT, Bawa’Allah said among the first set of graduates produced by the school in 2013, seven would be completing their doctorates at various universities in the United States.

    He said not only did former Governor Fashola give a building to the university, he also provided foreign scholarships to all graduating students, a practice he lamented was stopped by his successor.

    LASUSOT has three departments, which could stand as take off points for six faculties for transportation university. These, according to him, are: Transport Management,  Transport Logistics and Transport Infrastructure.

    Others are Transport Technology, Transport Planning and Transport Policy.

    The Transportation University would provide the opportunities for education, training and research in transportation related disciplines and industries that are lacking in the country’s niversities, such as Transport Economics, Transport Tunnels, Military Purpose Vehicles, Bridges, Ship building, Jetliner Engine Design and construction.

    The list could be longer, he said, adding that  the university would grow towards full complements of transportation.

    He said the Chinese/Nigeria collaboration is  heart-warming for a well-funded university, the cost implications not-withstanding.

    He supported the siting of the varsity in Daura, saying being the link of the speed train to Niamey in Niger Republic, it would bring development to to the town, and that it would complement the National Railway Project being carried  in conjunction with the Chinese government.

    Training of our youths in China is being done  under the Daura Project meant to serve generations of Nigerians.

  • FG delegation condoles with D-G NIA

    A FEDERAL government delegation was in Katsina State on Saturday to condole with a prominent son of the state, Ambassador Ahmed Rufa’i Abubakar, the Director General, National Intelligence Agency (NIA) following the death of his sister, Hajiya Fatima Aliyu.

    In a message to the bereaved family, and to the government and people of the state, President Muhammadu Buhari, speaking through the Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari expressed sadness over the loss of a valued citizen.

    The leader of the delegation, according to a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said: ‘‘Hajiya Aliyu will be missed by many for her compassionate side, helping fellow countrymen and women in distress anywhere she came across them.”

    He prayed to Allah to repose the soul of the deceased and grant fortitude to her beloved family members and friends to bear the loss. In his remarks, the DG NIA thanked the President for sending the condolence team to Katsina and prayed for his safe return from Japan.

    The delegation, which included a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, the Senior Special Assistant to the President, Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu and the Ambassador Designate to Chad, Ambassador Babagana Zanna also visited the Government House Katsina, where the President’s message to the government and people of the state was delivered to Governor Bello Masari.

  • NEMA provides relief materials to Daura flood victims

    The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Saturday provided relief materials to flood victims in Daura, Katsina State.

    More than 300 houses were totally brought down while other houses, shops and farmlands were submerged following downpour on Tuesday and Wednesday.

    The Acting Chairman of Daura Local Government Area, Abba Mato, had described the flood as “one of the worst ever witnessed in the area”.

    Areas worst hit were Kusugu, Sabongari, Sarkin Yara and Mazoji areas of Daura metropolis.

    Read Also: NEMA receives 171 Nigerians from Libya

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that items donated by NEMA include Rice, Maize, Beans, Millet, Cooking oil and salt.

    It also provided building materials like cement, roofing sheets, nails, ceiling, mosquito nets, blankets and mats.

    Eng. Mustapha Maihaja, Director General of NEMA, represented by the North West coordinator of the agency, Mr Ishaya Chinoko, said that the donation was to cushion the effects of the disaster on the victims.

    “We are aware that what we brought will not compensate what the victims lost, but we bring the items as relief materials,” he said.

    Katsina State Governor, Alhaji Aminu Masari, advised the flood victims not to sale what was given to them by the Federal Government.

    Masari who was represented by the Executive Secretary, State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Alhaji Babangida Nasamu, said that the state government would also support the victims.

    NAN