The Nation Newspaper

Tag: KOGI

  • Strike in Kogi

    Since the coming of Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, his relationship with workers has been like cat and mouse. The recent screening exercise of workers in the state has not brought harmonious relationship between the labour union and the state government, hence the spate of strikes been noticed everywhere in state now.

    The attempt of the government to trim the overblown civil service has made workers to complain of been made to attend numerous screening exercises without been paid. The various educational institutions in the state now have not been to classes for the past five months with children of the under privileged roaming the streets of all the local governments of the state, while workers of higher institutions in the state have vowed never to returned to classes unless they are paid their salaries.

    Also the state branch of the Medical Association of Nigeria has down tools to press home their demands of improve welfare packages. The governor has to change his style of governance to be in conformity with the present realities, to ensure the people of the state would see him transforming the state to optimal level.

     

    • From Bala Nayashi

    Lokoja.

     

  • Suspected robber electrocuted in Kogi

    A suspected bandit has been electrocuted to death in Lokoja, capital of Kogi State.

    The suspect, whose name could not be ascertained as at the time of filing this report, was electrocuted at the weekend around the AIG Zone 8 area of Lokoja.

    It was gathered he was electrocuted while attempting to scale the wall of a house he planned to rob.

    Residents said the bandit belonged to a gang that has been causing them sleepless nights in the area.

    A resident said they were alerted to the body stuck to an electrified fence in the early hours of the next day.

    It was gathered power supply was cut before the lifeless body could be bought down.

  • Suspected robber electrocuted in Kogi

    Suspected robber electrocuted in Kogi

    Nemesis may have caught up with a suspected bandit who was electrocuted  in Lokoja, Kogi State on Friday.

    The suspect whose name could not be ascertained as of the time of filing this report was electrocuted on around the AIG Zone 8 area of Lokoja.

    He reportedly met his death in an attempt to scale the wall of a targeted house, according to a resident of the area.

    While police authorities could not confirm the incident, another resident who pleaded that his name not be mentioned, said some residents were alerted of the youngster’s body stuck to an electrified fence.

    The source added that power was put off before the lifeless body was brought down.

  • Kogi seeks World Bank’s intervention in rice production

    The Kogi government on Thursday said it would seek World Bank’s intervention in its quest to boost rice production and improve aquatic culture in the state.

    The State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr. Oloruntoba Kehinde, said this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

    Kehinde said the state government was impressed with the success recorded by the World Bank in cassava production and its value chain under the Fadama 111 additional financing in Kogi.

    He noted that the bank’s intervention would ultimately encourage rice production in Kogi and make the state one of the largest producer of rice in North Central Nigeria.

    He described Kogi as “a confluence of opportunities”, blessed with rivers, fertile expanse of land and able-bodied men.

    The commissioner said that areas like Ibaji, Ejiba/Omi Dam, Bassa, Koton-Karfe, Lokoja, Omala, among others, had abundance of viable farm lands for rice and aquatic culture.

    “We want the World Bank to intervene in rice production and aquaculture because the bank has being a worthy partner in cassava production and even in the health sector,” Kehinde said.

    He said the state government realised agriculture was pivotal to its economic growth and had declared a state of emergency in the sector to reduce crime and guarantee food security.

    Kehinde disclosed that Kogi had asked for the lease of Federal Government’s 4,500 hectares land around Omi Dam in Yagba West and Ibaji Local Government Areas for rice production.

    He said the federal government has also pledged to set up another rice mill in Ibaji and called for upscale in rice cultivation to feed the mills.

    “About 45,000 hectares of Fadama land in Odo-Ape could also be used for cassava and rice production,” he said.

    NAN reports that Kogi is one of the six core states of Fadama III programme participating in cassava value chain.

  • Milo Basketball Tourney: Kogi players allege fraud in payment of allowance

    Players of Overcomers Technical College, Ajaokuta, representing Kogi in the ongoing 2017 Milo Basketball Secondary School Championships zonal qualifiers, has alleged that their allowances were shortchanged by the Sports Coordinator, Joseph Abah.

    Some of the female players, who spoke to newsmen at Confluence Stadium in Lokoja on Wednesday, accused the sports coordinator for diverting funds meant to cater for their welfare.

    Otokpa Ene, one of the players, said her team did not have food to eat which saw them crumbling easily to a 12-22 defeat to Benue in the semi-finals.

    According to her, the team has been facing a lot there and could not access water to take their bath except for the night rain after their first match.

    The team’s captain team, Sherifat Abdulmaleek, lamented the unhealthy state of their accommodation, noting that mosquitoes really dealt them.

    “I fainted in camp due to unhealthy rain water that we drank and there was no first aid. I was rushed to the Specialist Hospital, but unfortunately, they were on strike.

    “I hope the state government will intervene in this sad and ugly incident,’’ Abdumaleek said.

    She further alleged that her team only got N600 on Saturday before it was increased to N900 on Sunday, insisting that they received no single match allowance.

    The Team’s Head Coach, Saliu Topson, said the girls were starved for many days by the embattled sports coordinator who also refused to disclose the allotted funds.

    Meanwhile, efforts made to get reactions from the sports coordinator on the allegations against him yielded no result as he failed to answer several calls made to his mobile telephone by the the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    NAN reports that Kogi emerged third in the female category of the competition after defeating their Niger counterparts by 15-14 points.

    It will be recalled that Kogi’s representatives emerged champions in the male and female categories in 2016 edition of the Milo Basketball Championships; a feat they failed to uphold in this edition.

  • Kogi to employ 3,000 security, tourism personnel

    Mr. Gbenga Olorunpomi, the Senior Special Assistant to Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi, has said that the State Government would soon employ 3,000 workers, to boost security and tourism.

    Olorunpomi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja that for tourism to thrive in the state, proper security had to be in place to secure the visitors.

    “We are taking our step one after the other; the development of the state is going to be built on security, peace and unity; so we take the issue of security seriously.

    “That is why we have deployed so much resources to providing security gadgets for our security officers; we have done all these because we want security.

    “In this regard, we want to develop our different tourism sites- Mount Patti, other sites, and the different festivals in order to attract tourists and investment to the state’’.

    The aide said the government was negotiating with some organisations to develop and manage the different tourist sites in the state through public private partnership.

    “In April, the British Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Paul Arkwright, was on Mount Patti, to see the tourist site; so we are excited for the future’’.

    He said the executive arm of government had sponsored bills to the State House of Assembly, to ensure the maximum use of natural resources and tourism sites in Kogi.

    The aide said that the State Government was working on the Kogi Hotels, which the previous administration initiated to ensure that tourists and visitors have a good place to lay their heads.

    “We are doing a lot to improve on security, peace, unity as well as promote tourism in the state”.

     

  • CP charges policemen to track down kidnappers, armed robbers in Kogi

    Mr. Wilson Inalegwu, the Commissioner of Police in Kogi, has charged men and officers of the command to go after kidnappers and armed robbers terrorising people in some parts of the state.

    Inalegwu, while addressing operatives of the 37 Mobile Police Force Command on Tuesday in Lokoja, said that criminals should not be allowed to continue to operate at will.

    “It can never be business as usual; criminals must be forced to abandon their arms or relocate from Kogi,” he said.

    Inalegwu restated his determination to rid Kogi of criminals to allow residents and visitors to move freely, and called for support from members of the public toward achieving that.

    “We cannot fight crime without the support of the public. Kogi residents should assist the police with the right information,” he said.

     

  • Dam: End of water scarcity in sight in Kogi communities

    Living without water for years, the prospect of a dam in Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu area of Kogi State has lifted the spirits of the constituents.

    A federal government dam project backed by the World Bank has been approved in the area.

    A representative of the constituency at the National Assembly, Hon. Teejay Yusuf facilitated the project, a development that has thrown the people into a celebratory mood.

    Yusuf, chair of the Committee on Capital Market and Institutions of the House of Representatives, was no less enthused, having fulfilled one of the promises he made to his people, whose long search for the precious liquid was reaching near ridiculous levels.

    With the approval of the dam project, the challenge of water will be greatly reduced, and a good reason why the people gathered to celebrate their son, at the project groundbreaking ceremony in Kabba.

    Yusuf said, “I discovered, painfully, that the non-availability of potable water is perhaps one of the biggest challenges in Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency. From Kabba to Iyara, Ogidi, Iyamoye, Okebukun, Ayetoro-Gbedde and indeed every community, the lack of drinking water was prevalent.

    ”To ameliorate the sufferings of our people, I reasoned that something immediate- as a short term measure, had to be put in place. You will recall that since 2011 and now, to the glory of God, I have succeeded in facilitating the construction/provision of numerous hand pump and solar powered boreholes in various communities within Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency.

    “Cognisant of the fact that to proffer a permanent solution to the challenge of potable water in our very Federal Constituency, there has to be something bigger, in terms of projects, cost and federal government involvement.

    “This massive project, perhaps the very first in Kogi West, when completed will run through many villages, towns and communities in Kabba-Bunu and Ijumu local government areas as well as some communities in Kogi West Senatorial district,” said the lawmaker.

    Commending others whose support made the water project a reality, including the Minister of Water Resources Suleiman Adamu, and kinsmen in the Federal Civil Service, he called for more collaboration to further develop the areas.

    He said, “You will recall that this sustained synergy has been very useful in our mutual desire to attract meaningful infrastructural, institutional and socio-economic development of our very dear Federal Constituency.”

  • Two cattle rustlers to die by hanging in Kogi

    A Kogi High Court sitting in Okene on Thursday sentenced two trans-border cattle rustlers – Muhammed Lawal Jauro and Yusuf Sanni – to death by hanging.

    The duo got the sentence after Justice Josiah Majebi found them guilty of cattle rustling and culpable homicide.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the accused were arraigned on a three-count charge of criminal conspiracy, armed robbery and culpable homicide, contrary to various sections of the Penal Code.

    The prosecution had told the court that sometimes in January 2016, one Dauda Abdullahi made a report of a gruesome murder and theft of cows, belonging to one Haruna, in one of the farm centres in Okene.

    He said that upon investigation, the accused persons were arrested at Ajase-Ipo in Kwara State, while their leader, Awaijo Wetti, escaped and was still at large.

    The prosecution further submitted that the suspects, who had earlier pleaded not guilty to the charges, later pleaded guilty.

    The prosecution quoted Jauro as saying in his statement that in December, 2015, one of his friends, Yusuf, a resident of Kabba junction, Zariagi, called him on phone and informed him that there were cows belonging to one Haruna, at a bush in Okene.

    “He further suggested that we should go and steal the cows. After that, our leader, by name Agwaijo Wetti, a resident of Tyre village along Okene-Auchi road, asked us to meet at the bush of Okene, which we did.

    “Myself, Yusuf, Ado and our leader, Agwaijo Wetti, gathered and, with our cutlasses, went to meet the owner of the cows and all of us machete him with cutlasses until he died.

    “Three of us then took control of the cows and took them to Ajase-Ipo in Kwara state,” Jauro was further quoted as saying.

    In his judgment, Justice Majebi declared that the confessions of the accused persons were weighty and admissible in determining the case against them.

    “The confessions of the respective accused persons are graphic, direct and the accused persons stated that after killing the deceased Haruna, they went with his cows to Ajase-Ipo where they were arrested and the cows were recovered in the bush where they kept them.”

    Majebi said that the not guilty plea by the accused during the trial could not be substantiated because the admission of the commission of the said offence by the accused persons in their respective statements was clear, specific and unambiguous.

    To believe their plea of not guilty, the jurist said “is to believe the holiness of a Bishop hanging a talisman on his neck.’’

    He held that the prosecution had satisfactorily established that the death of the deceased was caused by the convicts as there was “a nexus between the acts of the accused persons and the death of the deceased.”

    The judge sentenced them to 28 years each, on the first three count charges, and death by hanging on the fourth charge of culpable homicide.

  • U.S. donates $5.5m mosquito nets to Kogi residents

    U.S. donates $5.5m mosquito nets to Kogi residents

    The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has presented over 2.2 million treated mosquito nets to Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi for distribution to the residents of the state.

    The U.S. Embassy said in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja that the nets, valued at 5.5 million dollars, would be distributed in the 21 local government areas of the state.

    It quoted USAID’s Director for Health, Population and Nutrition, Nancy Lowenthal, as saying that U.S. also provided an additional 1.1 million dollars for logistics, including transportation of the nets, community mobilisation and training.

    Lowenthal said the nets and support for the distribution were a gift from the American people to the people of Kogi.

    The director said that the U.S. was supporting the efforts of the government and people of Kogi to protect the health of all, particularly the young and most vulnerable members of society.

    “I believe that eliminating malaria in Kogi and throughout Nigeria as a whole is possible if we all work together,” she said.

    According to her, malaria is one of the leading killers of children and a leading cause of illness in Nigeria, particularly during the rainy season when the mosquito population increases.

    She said sleeping under an insecticide-treated net every night was the best way to prevent malaria.

    “Bed nets put a vital barrier between people and the mosquitoes that carry malaria, particularly during the hours from dusk to dawn.

    “Nightly use of insecticide treated bed nets prevents infections, which in turn prevents the spread of malaria.

    “Since 2011, the U.S. Government has spent more than 420 million dollars to control malaria in Nigeria.

    “Over 50 per cent of U.S. government funding for malaria goes into procuring and distributing insecticide treated bed nets, malaria diagnostic kits and malaria medicines,” she said.

    Lowenthal said that the U.S. government supported advocacy and mobilisation to encourage members of the community to sleep under the bed nets every night, training of health workers, and test for malaria before treatment.