The Nation Newspaper

Tag: members

  • Oyo APC members await exco list

    Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State are “waiting anxiously” for the announcement of executive council members and local government caretaker committee members by Governor Abiola Ajimobi.

    The names, it was gathered, will be announced “any moment from now”.

    The announcement will follow payment of salary arrears, which is expected to be completed this week.

    The government began payment of the four-month salary arrears last Wednesday.

    May salary was paid on Wednesday; June on Thursday.

    It is expected that the balance will be cleared this week in line with the agreement reached with labour leaders.

    A source close to the governor said yesterday that Ajimobi had compiled the list of potential appointees with the party’s inputs.

    But the governor has the final say on the portfolios.

    The source explained that the appointees were drawn from the 33 local governments but that both the governor and the party agreed to stay action because of the outstanding salaries.

    “Both the party and the governor thought that it would be better to delay the announcement till after salary arrears have been cleared to identify with the plight of the workers.

    “But now that workers will be fully paid, the announcement will be made soon.”

    The source added that the delay has helped Ajimobi save some funds that would have ordinarily gone into salaries and allowances for the appointees.

  • Old Students honour committed members

    Old Students honour committed members

    Ijebu Muslim College Old Students’ Association (IMCOSA), has honoured its committed members, who have aligned with the vision of the founders of the school through regular and generous donations.

    At the association’s annual award tagged: ‘IMCOSA 2015 Merit awards’, held in Ikeja, nine members of the alumni were given merit awards, while two others got recognition awards.  However, the awards followed a call by the National President of the association, Alhaji Korede  Lawal, on the need to rekindle  mentorship spirit among privileged Nigerians as this would propel the nation to greatness.

    According to him, the merit award honorees were those who made aggressive donations to IMCOSA, while the duo on special recognition cadre, also made generous awards but not like the former.

    Lawal said the success and contributions of the old students association to their alma mater and the country in particular could not have been possible if the Muslim community and the society in Ijebu at that time had not deemed it fit to establish the school due to the challenges being experienced then.

    Going down memory lane, Lawal said: “The school was founded by the Ijebu Muslim Community in 1950, envisioned as a school that would produce men and women who would contribute to the development, growth and sustenance of the Ijebu Muslim community, Ijebu land, the then Western region and Nigeria in particular, which was achieved as the school became a ‘Mecca’ of excellent education, especially the Higher School Certificate Course (HSC) from its inception in 1961 till the mid -70s.”

    He said despite the humble beginning of the school and the success achieved, the school today is now an eyesore owing to the perennial neglect suffered by most public schools in the country from government. Nonetheless IMCOSA, has been up to the task with various initiatives and interventions, especially through provision and sustenance of infrastructures in the school, Lawal explained.

    “Some of our interventions are, a library cum assembly complex fully completed and functional with staff rooms and cyber café worth over N250 million; resuscitation of the school’s boarding system after it was scrapped by the government and raising the first block of classrooms in the school to a storey building, fully furnished with staff rooms worth over N130 million, among others” Lawal stressed.

    All these interventions, explained Lawal, are aside the various scholarships offered students of the school up to the university level. But having realised that IMCOSA alone cannot shoulder the responsibility, Lawal appealed to corporate bodies who have hitherto assisted the school, for more.

    He said the award ceremony is to honour those who are committed to the upliftment of the school through their donations on one hand, and to encourage others to look at areas in which they could lend the school a helping hand.

    Commenting on the benefits of mentoring, the guest speaker and a former Vice-Chancellor, University of Uyo, and Crescent University, Abeokuta respectively, Prof. Fola Lasisi, said for the mentor, it would be enriched through seeing someone else grow and succeed.

    According to him, creativity is generated by issues and ideas already generated by someone new and younger, noting that such cycle now generates a stronger and everlasting bond between a  mentor and a mentee.

    Speaking on behalf of other awardees, Alh Sikiru Oduntan from the 1953 set, thanked the association for the honour done them. He promised the awardees would do more for their alma mater, and pray that the association will always have able officers, who would move it forward.

     

  • Corps members’ pay rise in Sokoto

    Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal at the weekend promised to increase the monthly allowances paid to National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members.

    Also, the governor pledged to provide more double-bunker beds and mattresses at their permanent orientation camp in Wamakko, headquarters of Wamakko Local Government Area.

    The governor made the promises when he addressed corps members shortly their special environmental sanitation.

    Tambuwal, who relaunched the sanitation last week, said the upward review would be from the current N4,000 monthly stipend for corps members.

    Although the governor said the state government had not arrived at an amount, he added: “The gesture is aimed at further motivating the corps members to do more to diligently serve their nation.

  • PDP faction begs defecting members

    PDP faction begs defecting members

    Ahead of today’s mega rally by the Bayelsa State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the planned defection to the party by members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, a faction of the PDP opposed to the reelection bid of Governor Seriake Dickson, yesterday appealed to PDP defectors to come back.

    The faction, under the auspices of the PDP Unity Group (PUG), insisted that the ongoing exodus of PDP members to the All Progressive Congress (APC), if not halted, would impact negatively on the fortunes of the party in the December 5 governorship election.

    The faction, coordinated by Mrs. Marie Ebikake, a former commissioner in Dickson’s government, spoke in Yenagoa few hours after PDP elders loyal to the governor carpeted defectors, describing them as ungrateful.

    Ebikake, in a press conference attended by members of the faction, spoke particularly about a fresh gale of defections set to hit the PDP today in a first mega rally of the APC scheduled to hold in Yenagoa.

    Ebikake said: “We cannot pretend to be unperturbed by the planned cross-carpeting of more of our esteemed members tomorrow (today). There is no doubt that some of these defectors are men and women of high political substance and pedigree that have contributed immensely to our past achievements”.

    Meanwhile, elders from the state and founding members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday rose from a crucial meeting and declared that the party would surmount its challenges and triumph in the December 5 governorship election.

    The elders, who met to review the ongoing defections of PDP stalwarts to the All Progressive Congress (APC) ahead of the election, said they were not losing sleep over the development.

    One of the elders and PDP founding father, Chief George Fente, said those who left the PDP and others leaving today (Saturday) after enjoying all the party’s  benefits were ungrateful and selfish.

    It had been revealed that over 70 PDP stalwarts and 500 others will today join the APC in a rally scheduled to hold at the Samson Siasia Sports Complex.

    But Fente said: “We know very well that some of our members in the PDP are leaving today. Why did they not defect before? They have enjoyed all the benefits in PDP. They have chosen to dump a party that has made them. They are ungrateful.

    “These defectors are political locust and they are gravitating towards an abysmal chasm of destruction. They will implode in APC and they will start running back to PDP. We are still advising them to come back because the umbrella is big enough to accommodate them.”

    Reading the collective position of the elders, the Chairman of the Committee of the Restoration Caucus Chairmen, Chief Thompson Okorotie, said majority of Bayelsans were behind the governor of the state, Mr. Seriake Dickson.

    “We hear of defection these days even though some of the listed people have died the claims of the opposition and that shows there is no coherence or totality in their claims.’’

    “However, we wish to state that those defections will have no impact on our route to success in the forthcoming primaries and the gubernatorial elections,” Okorotie said.

    He said the administration of Dickson has recorded many strides in different sectors of the state economy, adding that the governor started his government with a sound blueprint.

    He listed the governor’s achievements to include road infrastructure, agriculture, tourism, economic investment promotion and housing.

    He said despite the dwindling revenue which had affected all the states, Dickson was still paying salaries of workers.

    Okorotie, who noted that the governor has created enabling environment for investment, observed that pockets of criminalities, especially kidnapping in the state were politically motivated by evil forces.

  • Police arraign five suspected cult members

    Five men, Adeniyi Folami, 23, Kehinde Oshodi, 22, Ololade Oyedele, 37, Lekan Oseni, 38 and Olalekan Ajiloore have been arraigned before an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrate’s Court for allegedly belonging to an unlawful society.

    The defendants and others now at large were said to have conspired to manage an unlawful society called “Eiye Confraternity at Bajulaye area of Shomolu, a suburb of Lagos.

    They were said to have committed the act at about 8am on May 2, 2015.

    They were arrested and arraigned on charges bordering on conspiracy and membership of an unlawful society.

    They denied the charges.

    The offence according to the police prosecutor, Nkankuk Etim, contravened Section 409,41and 42 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

    The defense counsel, Imelda Adebambo, applied for the bail of the defendants in the most liberal terms.

    The presiding magistrate, A.F Botoku, admitted the defendants to bail in the sum of N100, 000 and two sureties in like sum.

    The case was adjourned till September 9.

  • Honourable members indeed!

    SIR: Thursday June 25 will go down the annals of Nigeria’s history as, yet, another day members of the House of Representatives showed how hallowed enough they deemed the “hallowed” Green Chamber of the National Assembly.

    It leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of patriotic Nigerians to see our “Honourable” members engage in fighting for leadership positions aimed at giving them the leverage to amass for themselves and cronies, the wealth of the nation rather than fighting for the entrenchment of true democratic practices or the unleashing of democratic dividends to the to bring them out of the current untoward economic challenges of poverty, unemployment, insecurity, corruption, etc.

    If one may ask, what is honourable about the members when they’re wont to engaging in physical combats for reasons that, in the long run, doesn’t have any positive impact on the citizenry, but instead, leaves them bewildered and dismayed as well as further dent the image of the country?

    It’s utterly appalling to see our supposedly honourable members throw their sense of honour to the winds and engage in physical combats at a time when they should be combating the humongous and burgeoning economic, social, political, cultural and other challenges facing the country.

    To recall that this awful incident is happening at a time when the dust raised by the controversies and intrigues surrounding the elections of NASS leadership had hardly settled down really leaves the citizenry wondering if the 8th Assembly, especially the House of Representatives, is really ready to drive the country’s legislative business to the next level.

    It’s really disheartening to also note that the legislators at the heart of this inglorious fight are members of the ruling APC that had promised Nigerians positive change and a departure from the hitherto, business-as-usual paradigm in the nation’s 16 years of uninterrupted democratic experience. And this has truly left Nigerians bitterly querying the nature and type of change the APC want to bring to them.

    There’s no doubt that our legislative system is a very crucial segment of our current system of government. There’s also no doubt that our legislative arm of government is meant to be populated by individuals who are deemed honourable and respectable due to the fact that they are saddled with the task of making laws that will bring about  the unity, peace and progress of our country.

    However, a situation where these “personalities have decided make fighting and worthless altercations their stocks in trade truly leaves much to be desired. It puts a question mark on the extent to which our legislators, especially those at the House of Representatives, are honourable enough to legislate and produce for the nation, worthwhile laws needed for her holistic development.

    It’s extremely important that while our representatives in the legislative arm of government go about parading themselves as honourable members, they should also realise that true honour isn’t just gotten, but earned; that it doesn’t just come on the basis of desire, but on the basis of the recipient deserving it.

    Our legislators must get off this beaten track of senseless melee in the execution of legislative business, and embark on the true act of legislation, especially in this time and season where the nation’s economy is performing at one of its lowest ebbs.

     

    • Daniel Ndukwe Ekea,

    Umuahia, Abia state.

  • ASUU urges members to ignore audit

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has directed its members to ignore a letter from the Budget Office of the Federal Ministry of Finance asking members of the union to present themselves to an audit panel.

    In a letter from the union’s national secretariat signed by its President, Dr Nasir Fagge, and addressed to all chairpersons, the union described the action as illegal and against the principle of university autonomy.

    The letter titled: “Re: Staff Audit – Federal Ministry of Finance”, reads:  “The attention of the Union has been drawn to a letter dated 26th May, 2015 from the Budget Office in the Federal Ministry of Finance directing members of our union at the University of Abuja to appear before a Staff Audit Committee of the Ministry.

    “The directive is a breach of the ASUU/FGN 2009 Agreement and an attempt to compromise the universally accepted AUTONOMY of the university system.

    “Our members are, therefore, directed not to appear before any such committee panel on Staff Audit in all the universities. It is the Governing Councils of universities that can, without prompting from the government, take and implement decisions on staff audit or budgeting issues in universities.”

  • One killed as OPC members clash in Ibadan

    The factional crisis rocking the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) in Oyo State, claimed its first casualty yesterday.

    Dauda, also known as Eranla, was killed when some OPC members from Beere, Ibadan, attacked their Apete counterparts, claiming that the head of the Apete faction, ‘Bendel’, was no longer a registered member of OPC .

    It was gathered that the Beere faction claimed that the Apete group had ceased to be OPC members.

    A source said the Beere group believed that their brothers from Apete had ceaselessly tarnished their image,despite not being a functional chapter, and so after several appeals, they stormed Apete yesterday to deal with them.

    When Bendel’s group was attacked, Dauda ,who had a set of twins last year, was killed.

    An eyewitness said it was easier for people to recognise Dauda because his mother is a famous pepper seller.

    Dauda’s remains have been taken away by policemen. Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) were stationed to restore sanity in the area.

    Police spokesman Adekunle Ajisebutu said  the police have restored peace and sanity in the area.

    “Our men are  on ground to forestall any further outbreak of law and order. Residents should not panic because we are on top of the situation,” he said

  • Man O’ War recruits members

    No fewer than 25 students have been recruited into the Man O’ War cadet at the University of Benin (UNIBEN). The recruitment was held for two days at a hill behind the institution’s Senior Staff Club known on the campus as ‘Mount Kilimanjaro’.

    The exercise, which was coordinated by the club’s commandant, Emeka Nwaede, a 400-Level Medical Physiology student, lasted for six hours, with the recruits being taking through physical fitness, such as push-ups, rolling, high jumps, frog jump, endurance trek and mounting climbing.

    This was followed by oral interview, where the recruits were assessed based on their intelligence quotient and academic records.

    Emeka said: “The oral interview was basically to test the IQ of the students to know how broad their thinking capacity is. We also need to know their and academic performance, because we would not recruit students with poor academic records.”

    While observing that there no casualty injury during the exercise, Emeka said some of the recruits, who developed fear for altitude adapted to the task.

    “Having gone through this rigorous screening exercise, I officially welcome you to the club. You must be disciplined. Do not see the club as an outfit of intimidation against your fellow students. You must be good ambassadors. Anyone who defaults our rules will be penalized,” Emeka said.

    A recruit, Chinedu Ejechi, a 200-Level Philosophy and Religion student, said he was happy about the success of the exercise. He promised to use his experience to help make the campus peaceful.

  • Club inducts members

    Club inducts members

    The Rotaract Club of the Federal Polytechnic in Auchi (AUCHI POLY) has inducted no fewer than 35 members. The inductees took the oath at an event held on the campus last week.

    The club’s Assistant Governor in Edo State, Yekini Sadoh, said told the new members that the activities of the club were not centred on profit but humanitarian service.

    He said the club had spent billions to eradicate polio, hoping that the disease would be kicked out of Nigeria.

    Sadoh said: “As members, you should live by example by becoming a role model in your class, hostels, house and your community. Everything you do must be centred on service to humanity.”

    He enjoined the leaders of the club to be transparent and accountable, stressing that openness would guarantee confidence members have in them.

    The club president, Yesufu Lawani, advised the inductees to avail themselves of the opportunities offered by the club for self-development and get actively involved in its activities.

    He said: “I will advise you to ensure you work with other members and participate in all activities of the club. You have to create time and use your talent to impact people and touch the lives of others.”

    Lawani said the club renders humanitarian service to the less privileged and frequently visits orphanages and schools for selfless causes. Joining the club, he said, will help the inductees academically.

    An inductee, Stanley Welegi, a student of Mass Communication, said: “I love humanitarian work and I have compassion for the less privileged. My motive is in line with the objective of the club. This is why I join the club to touch the lives of the less privileged. I always find fulfillment in making others smile. I am happy to be inducted as a Rotaractor today.”

    The occasion was graced by Rotarians, including Dr Sule Ohikhena, President Rotary Club in Auchi, Andrew Eborieme, Izuagie Mario and Jatto Usaro.