The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Kebbi

  • Kebbi Government to create jobs for 2,450 youths

    The Kebbi Government is to create jobs for 2,450 youths to discourage thuggery and other vices.

    The state Gov. Atiku Bagudu gave the assurance while addressing supporters of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in Birnin Kebbi on Tuesday.

    “About 117 unemployed youths will be registered in each local government area to become self-reliant,” Bagudu said.

    He said that local governments had been directed to begin the registration to speed up the job creation.

    The governor attributed the state’s success in rice and wheat production to hard work and dedication by stakeholders.

    He assured that his administration would continue to deliver democracy dividends to people of the state.

    Earlier the state Chairman of APC, Alhaji Attahiru Maccido, advised the youth to take advantage of the youth empowerment programme.

    Maccido assured the governor that well-meaning people of the state would continue to support his administration’s efforts to move the state forward.

  • Gastroenteritis outbreak: 4 students die, 7 others hospitalised in Kebbi

    Four students of the Government Secondary School, Fannah, in Suru Local Government Area of Kebbi State have died sequel following an outbreak of Gastroenteritis.

    Gastroenteritis, also known as infectious diarrhoea, is the inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract that involves the stomach and small intestine.

    The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that seven other students from the school have been hospitalised at Kamba General Hospital in Dandi Local Government Area.

    Alhaji Abubakar Mua’azu, the Press Secretary to Gov. Atiku Bagudu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kamba on Monday, that the governor led a strong delegation to sympathise with the school authorities.

    Mua’azu said that the delegation, which included the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Alhaji Abdulmumini Kamba, also visited the seven students in hospital.

    He said that the governor directed the immediate provision of clean water to the school and other requirements as well as paying sympathy visit to the homes of the deceased families.(NAN)

  • Kebbi: From rice to soya

    Kebbi: From rice to soya

    After its bumper rice production, Kebbi State is attracting partnership interest from far afield, Lagos State being the latest to seal a pact with it on soya farming. KHADIJAT SAIDU reports

    Is Kebbi State now the rice capital of Nigeria? Well, that is arguable, but after its exploits last year, overshooting its production target with over 850 metric tonnes of the grains, it could stake its claim. Yet, Kebbi is not all about rice. The state prioritises agriculture, seeing it as the only dependable activity that could guarantee food security apart from its economic benefits.

    It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari has made no secret of his determination to improve the base of Nigeria’s economy by reviving agriculture and opening the mines, among other measures. He must be proud of Kebbi.

    The state Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Muhammad Garba Dandiga told reporters that the state has achieved a lot in rice production as well as in wheat and other crops, adding that more states have been developing interest to partner with it in order to make food available in their states.

    The commissioner further pointed out that Kebbi State government through the agriculture ministry has sponsored over 20,000 farmers to produce Soya beans in Zuru area and also given them fertilizer and seed.

    He said the state government will buy 100 tractors for farmers across the state. He added that Kebbi and Lagos state governments have agreed to sponsor over 40,000 farmers to produce soya beans in nine local government areas of Kebbi.  Garba Dandiga confirmed this, saying the agreement also involved private company.

    Both states have partnered on rice production, a deal which produced what is tagged “Lake Rice” sold only in Lagos State at N12,500.

    The commissioner said that the ministry has also set up a committee to look into the communities that are producing vegetables such as tomatoes, pepper and water melon and see how they can be improved upon to meet up with the agreement the state has with Lagos State.

  • Kano arrests 966 for street begging

    Kano arrests 966 for street begging

    The Kano State Hisbah Board, on Thursday said it had arrested 966 beggars in January for allegedly violating the law banning street begging on major streets of the state capital.

    According to Malam Musa Tsangaya, the officer in charge of the Anti-begging Unit of the board, 203 of those arrested were children while 755 were adults.

    “Our men arrested 966 street beggars around Bank Road, Civic Centre, Dangi Junction, Luggard Road and Magwan Junction violating the law banning street begging in Kano metropolis.

    “Out of the 966 beggars, 755 were adults, both male and female, while 203 were children who engaged in begging in by the road sides and in the premises of major businesses,” Tsangaya said.

    He stated that 390 of the arrested beggars hailed from Kano city, while 576 were from Jigawa, Katsina and Kebbi.

    According to him, the remaining three are from Cameroon and Niger Republic.

  • Army: First Battalion celebrates WASA in Kebbi

    Army: First Battalion celebrates WASA in Kebbi

    The 1 Battalion of the Nigerian Army in Kebbi state has celebrated the 2016 annual West African Social Activities (WASA) to mark the end of year successful end of training and operational activities.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event was marked by officers, soldiers and their families with varieties of activities that included tug of war, cooking, cultural dances, songs as well as mini Durbar by the Gwandu emirate horsemen.

    The colourful event, sponsored by the Diamond bank, also featured cultural dances by the Tiv, Yoruba and Kalagu musicians, the NYSC cultural dance troupe as well as the presentation of awards of honour to distinguished friends and well wishers of the soldiers.

    The debate on the topic ”Public schools are better managed than private schools”, that was won by Miss Jamila Usman of the Nigerian Army primary school, Dukku Barracks in Birnin Kebbi.

    The Charlie Company of the 1 Battalion, Dukku Barracks won the Diamond bank price as the best in cooking competition while the administration company came second.

    The Galadiman Gwandu emirate, Ibrahim Bashar, represented the Emir of Gwandu, Alhaji Muhammadu Bashar, who inspected the mini Durbar and the delicacies prepared by the wives of the soldiers from different formations.

    The acting commanding officer of the formation, Capt. Ibrahim Aliyu commended the soldiers for discipline and dedication during the year and called for peaceful coexistence with the immediate community.

    A cross section of people who converged at the Barracks described the annual event as entertaining and a major avenue to mingle and share goodwill between civilians and the soldiers and their families.

  • Hope as erosion control takes off in Kebbi

    Kebbi State residents, especially those in Bunza Local Government Area have heaved an anticipatory sigh of relief as Governor Atiku Bagudu has awarded a contract for erosion control in the area.

    Bunza council is racked by erosion which has destroyed property and claimed lives.

    The state Commissioner for Works Alhaji Abubakar Bunu briefed the press about the contract at the state Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists.

    He said the 2km erosion project was awarded at the cost of N464,385,000 to Great Northern International Company.

    Abubakar Bunu explained that the project was initiated in order to put residents of Bunza Local Government Area out of their nightmare.

    Another contract also awarded was the one totalling N1.7 billion for road rehabilitation in Wasagu Local Government Area of the state.

    The commissioner also announced that N28 million has been spent for the repair of 12 grounded operational vehicles.

     

  • Buhari hails Lagos, Kebbi over Lake rice

    Buhari hails Lagos, Kebbi over Lake rice

    President Muhammadu Buhari has commended Lagos and Kebbi states for the successful partnership that gave rise to the local production of LAKE Rice (Lagos-Kebbi Rice).

    The President specifically commended the commitment of Governors Akinwunmi Ambode and Atiku Bagudu in bringing to fruition the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in March 2016 on substantially meeting the country’s rice requirement.

    In a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the President also expressed delight at the relatively cheaper price of LAKE Rice especially at this period of recession.

    “It gladdens my heart to get reports of our citizens rushing to purchase this cheaper local rice to enable them and their families enjoy the Christmas and New Year celebrations,” the President noted.

    According to him, what the two states have done is “evidence of a new base being laid for the Nigerian economy, founded and propelled by agriculture, away from substantial dependence on oil and gas for national revenue.”

    Recalling his 2017 Budget presentation before the National Assembly, he said: “A new era is rising in which we must grow what we eat and consume what we make,”

    The LAKE Rice achievement, he said, is in furtherance of the above goal.

    While urging other state governments to replicate the laudable example of LAKE Rice in other staple crops and dairy products, President Buhari pledged the Federal Government’s readiness to continue to support such initiatives by providing the enabling environment, policies and incentives for agriculture to thrive so that the nation can achieve food security.

    He was optimistic that going forward, Nigeria will attain rice sufficiency by 2019.

  • Rice: Kebbi relishes bumper harvest

    Rice: Kebbi relishes bumper harvest

    Rice growers in Kebbi State have overshot the production projection for the year. This is not only good for the state; it points the way to national economic recovery, reports KHADIJAT SAIDU

    There is great cheer in Kebbi State, and it is for good reason. At a time the country’s economy is in recession, triggering uncertainty, even despair across the country, rice farmers in the state have pulled off a stunning achievement. They have surpassed the one million tonnes of rice projected for the year by a significant 850 tonnes.

    The development has put Governor Atiku Bagudu is a jovial mood. He has been touring the rice fields with a smile on his face. The bountiful rice harvest means a lot to him and the state, and points to the road to national recovery. While it suggests that Kebbi residents are unlikely to face starvation, and the state economy will be in good health, the rice harvest makes the case for a vigorous return to agriculture as a means of solving the country’s various challenges. The development in Kebbi underlines and reinforces President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision for agriculture.

    Nigeria is blessed with vast arable land that can sustain commercial agriculture for both cash crops and food crops. Oil revenue in the global market has continued to shrink and agriculture becomes the alternative economic base that could replace dependency on oil. The federal government therefore did not hesitate to go back to agriculture which used to be the mainstay of the economy prior to discovery of oil.

    “Go back to the land and develop agriculture because the era of depending on oil is over,” was President Buhari’s message to farmers when he launched the dry season and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor  Borrowers Programme (ABP) in Birnin Kebbi, the state capital, on November 17, 2015.

    The President has made no secret of his determination to improve the base of Nigeria’s economy by reviving agriculture and opening the mines, among other measures.

    The CBN’s Anchor Rice Borrowers Programme, now one year old in the state, aims to boost rice and wheat production in Nigeria by providing loans to farmers.

    Thousands of farmers have seized the opportunity created by the ABP  to expand rice output.

    Rice farmers have been celebrating, claiming to have recorded a bumper harvest in comparison to previous years. Governor Bagudu  and  his deputy Samaila Yombe along with chairman of the state’s Rice Farmers’ Association    Alhaji Sahabi  Augie  took journalists  round the rice fields in Augie, Kalgo, Dandi, Bunza, Suru, Wasagu and Birnin-Kebbi local government areas where farmers where seen  displaying and celebrating their bumper harvest.

    Augie said the yield increase was due to improved seedlings and the assistance rendered to farmers through the ABP with over 500,000 hectares of cultivated land across 10 local government areas of the state.

    He said they have been producing rice throughout the year with Rima and Sokoto rivers serving the dry season irrigation farming.

     

  • Emefiele hails Kebbi rice farmers

    Emefiele hails Kebbi rice farmers

    Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele has inspected rice farms in Itane, Ketar Fulani and Gwadan Gwaji villages in Kebbi State.

    Emefiele, who expressed satisfaction with the farmers’ yield, said the major objectives of the Anchor Borrowers’Programme (ABP) had been largely achieved.

    The objectives of the ABP include assisting rural smallholder farmers to grow from subsistence to commercial level, increase capacity utilisation, create jobs, reduce poverty, and increase banks’ finance to the agricultural sector, among others.

    Emefiele, who was accompanied by Kebbi State Governor Atiku Abubakar Bagudu, and the representative of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, said ABP was yielding result due to farmers’ access to good seedlings, pesticides and fertiliser as well as support from states.

    Emefiele urged farmers to always forward their challenges to the bank and other authorities for quick solution, even as he assured them of the continued support of the CBN. He enjoined the media to inspect rice farms and report objectively.

    Noting that the refusal of some farmers to register for the Bank Verification Number (BVN) had militated against their getting access to the ABP facility, he urged them to register accordingly. He also assured that the ABP facility would be spread to many people who registered for the BVN.

    Senator Bagudu, the Chairman, National Task Force on Rice and Wheat, said the objective of the tour was to see how farmers and processors were responding to the call  by President Muhammadu Buhari as well as the impact of funds provided under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP).

  • Kebbi governor flags off training of 3000 teachers

    Kebbi governor flags off training of 3000 teachers

    Kebbi State Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu has kicked off the training of 3,000 primary school teachers under the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme. The event was held at the Presidential Banquet Hall in BirninKebbi, the state capital.

    In his address governor, Atikuhailed the UBE for organising the exercise, stressing that maintaining and sustaining schools is a collective responsibility of both the government and individual. He assured that his administration will continue to do all it takes to support education in the state. He explained that one of the challenges facing the sector is the huge member of people with fake results.

    He called on the participants to see this training programme as a means to renew their commitment to service delivery. Governor Atiku also emphasised that everyone who is not qualified to be in the education sector will soon be fished out.

    Earlier in his opening remarks, the state commissioner for education Alhaji Muhammad Magawata Aliero said the training is an intervention programme designed  by the UBE commission to train  a sizeable number of teachers in all the 36 states.

    He explained that the training was for the second  tranche fund of 2014 which could not be conducted for some reasons,  adding that  the initial number  approved by the commission was 1,500 participants but due to the efforts of the state governor, the commission approved  the number of beneficiaries to 3,000.

    Magawata  stated   further that the five days training has been centralised to take place in the four emirate headquarters of Birnin Kebbi, Argungu, Yauri  and Zuru.   He assured that in days, 3,000 primary school teachers would be trained towards improving their pedagogical skill in teaching the four core subjects of English Language, Mathematics, Basic Science &Technology as well as Religion and National Values.