The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Musa Abubakar

  • 90 percent of goods brought in via ports under-declared, says NSC

    The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) has disclosed that 90 percent of the goods brought into Nigeria through ports are under-declared.

    The Council said the act has led to huge loss of revenue by the federal government.

    The Council also said there was no need for Nigeria to depend on oil stating that the transport sector has the capacity to finance Nigerian budget.

    This was disclosed in Abuja by the Executive Secretary of the NSC, Barr. Hassan Bello during a courtesy call on the Ag. Chiarman of Independent Corrupt Practices & Other Related Offences Commissiont (ICPC), Dr. Musa Abubakar.

    Bello said: “No matter how hard we try to bring development, there are two key issues; security and corruption. If we don’t fight these, then I am afraid that the progress will not be much.

    “Corruption at our the ports and the transport system is particularly damaging to the economy of this country.”

    On steps made to curb corruption at the ports, Bello said: “We have unveiled a technology we put at the port that will make us know when the containers arrive,  their position and everything.  So the issues  of dwell time of cargo and collision will be a thing of the past.

    “We also have the Cargo Tracking Note or Advance Cargo Information System. 90 percent of goods coming into Nigeria are under-declared.  It is not the value. There is massive connivance to reduce the value of goods so that people don’t pay the actual import duty.

    “Government is loosing a lot of revenue and there is so much leakage. If we introduce the Advance Cargo Tracking Note (ACTN), the value of goods coming in will be known. So there will be no hiding.”

    He also said the device has the capacity to reduce proliferation of firearms and other illegal items.

    “The amount of weapons coming in and other illegal things coming in through the sea borders is alarming. With the ACTN, there is no how we will not have information about what is happening and it will help reduce how these illegal arms are brought into the country.

    Bello also said the transport sector has the capacity to finance the budget of the country if the activities at the ports and the transport system are well streamlined.

    He said: “Transport sector can finance the budget of this country. The is so much in the transport sector but it needs to depend on oil. There is so much wealth and productivity in the port but we just need to release it from the clutches of corruption.”

    Responding, the Ag. Chairman of ICPC pledged to continue to collaborate with the Council as to boost the country’s revenue.

  • NYSC DG lauds Tambuwal over N253m corps members allowances

    The Director-general of National Youth Service Corps ( NYSC ) Brig. Gen. Suleiman Kazaure, has lauded Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, for paying N253 million outstanding allowances of corps members.

    The letter was presented to the Governor during 2018 batch “A” Corps members’ swearing-in ceremony at Wamakko orientation camp Monday.

    Kazaure represented by Sokoto state Coordinator of NYSC, Alhaji Musa Abubakar, said the payment along with release of N43.5 million for provision of beds and mattresses at orientation camp was commendable.

    “NYSC management are overwhelmed with the efforts including institutionalising monthly payment of corps members allowances.

    “Approval of construction and renovation of corps members lodges alongside renovation of school facilities in the state.

    “These and other previous gestures demonstrated the governor’s commitment to the success of the NYSC scheme and serve as morale booster to corps members and managers, the director-general said.

    In his address, Tambuwal enjoined corp members to maximally use their God- given physical and intellectual endowments to pursue national unity and cohesion during the service year.

    Tambuwal, represented by Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Bashir Garba, said the scheme had for years, being pivotal at ensuring national integration, social, cultural and physical development.

    He urged the corps members to strive to actualise the set norms enshrined in the scheme.

    He advised the corps members to promote discipline; tolerance and understanding among Nigerians as well as become change agents in solving problems and challenges facing the nation.

    Tambuwal further counseled corps members to continue with their good morals and values gained during training exercise.

    He encouraged them to interact freely and undertake viable community projects that improve the lives people living in their respective places of primary assignments.

    “The nation is faced with enormous challenges of development and meeting their needs, require collective efforts ’’ Tambuwal said.

    Speaking at the event, the Chairman NYSC governing board in Sokoto State, Alhaji Abubakar Ladan, urged corps members to demonstrate exemplary conducts during the orientation exercise.

    Ladan expressed the hope that they would carry good virtues to their respective places of primary assignments.

    He called on corps members to complement government efforts in its fight against corruption, drug abuse and other forms of vices in the country.

    He said hard working corps members would receive awards from state government and the Sulatan, but noted that sanction also awaits any person found wanting during the service year.

    Alhaji Musa Abubakar, the Sokoto State Coordinator of NYSC, said 2,200 corps members were posted to the state.

    Chief Judge of Sokoto State, Justice Bello Abbas, performed the swears-in and oath taking of the corps members.

    NAN

  • NYSC partners financial institutions to secure soft loans for members

    NYSC partners financial institutions to secure soft loans for members

    The National Youth Service Corps ( NYSC ) on Monday said it partnered some financial institutions in the country to provide soft loans for corps members to start business.

    The Director-General of the corps, Brig. Gen. Suleiman Kazaure, told newsmen on the sideline of his visit to the 2017 NYSC Batch B Stream I Corps members at Wamakko Orientation Camp in Sokoto that the loan would help the young corps members.

    Kazaure said “we introduced skills acquisition programmes to improve the capacity
    of corps members and to key into Federal Government’s programmes of diversifying the country’s economy.

    “We thought that our corps members need soft loans to enable them to start a business and earn a living during and after their service year.

    “NYSC, therefore, entered into partnership with some financial institutions like Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN ), Heritage Bank and Bank of Industry to secure loans for corps members at single digit interest rate.”

    The NYSC boss said the loans were for corps members to start small scale enterprises from the grassroots and practically expand the knowledge gained during their skills acquisition programme in the service year.

    Kazaure added that NYSC would establish a skills acquisition centre in each of the six geopolitical zones in the country, with the aim of ensuring that corps members got the skills they required.

    He commended the Sokoto State Government for providing peaceful atmosphere for members serving in the state and urged them to reciprocate the gesture.

    The NYSC Coordinator in Sokoto State, Alhaji Musa Abubakar, thanked Kazaure for the visit to the camp and commended the corps members for maintaining discipline.

    NAN

  • Teachers owed three months salaries – Kwara NUT

    Teachers owed three months salaries – Kwara NUT

    The Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) Thursday decried the deteriorating state of primary and junior secondary school teachers in Kwara state.

    The union added that teachers in that category are being owed three months salaries since 2016.

    Kwara state chair of NUT said this in Ilorin, the state capital, Musa Abubakar at this year world teachers day.

    Comrade Abubakar added that primary school teachers “received salary on percentages for the past one year.”

    Said he: “Payment of salaries to primary and junior secondary teachers under the management of Universal Basic Education Board has become a thing of conversation to all lovers of education.

    “This abysmal situation has raised a lot of fundamental questions as to the fate of education in this country. Despite the intervention by the Federal Government using various financial windows, yet the problems still persist.

    “Despite the several calls to the government there is no ray of hope that this problem will be solved, because allocation to local government where primary school teachers is drawn is overloaded and consistently dwindling.

    “I therefore call on the state government to please come to our aide by looking for alternative source of paying primary school teachers full salary and other entitlements. Local governments do not have capacity to pay primary school teachers’ salaries.”

  • NYSC to plant one million trees in Sokoto

    NYSC to plant one million trees in Sokoto

    The National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) says corps members serving in Sokoto State will plant one million trees before the end of 2017.

    The state NYSC Coordinator, Alhaji Musa Abubakar, disclosed this on Tuesday.

    Abubakar said: “All the corps members in the 23 local governments will be made to plant these trees and nurse them.

    “The trees will be planted by the corps members as part of their community development projects.

    “This is the modest contribution of the scheme to the afforestation and reforestation efforts of the state and Federal Governments.

    “Trees are very crucial in combatting the menace of desert encroachment, gully erosion and flooding.”

    Abubakar further said that trees were also critical in improving the socioeconomic statuses of the people, medicinal uses, provide food and aesthetics for the environment.

     

  • Amuka: Suspected robbers finger security guards as masterminds

    The suspected armed robbers that attacked Vanguard Newspapers’ publisher, Sam Amuka, on Thursday said his security guards, Mohammed and Gambo masterminded the operation.

    Musa Abubakar, Abdulrazaq Hassan and Umaru Oseni, the gang’s driver, all Chadians, were paraded at the Lagos State police command headquarters.

    They were arrested at different areas of the state for their alleged involvement in the armed robbery operation that took place in the wee hours of June 5 at Amuka’s Anthony Village residence.

    Although the state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, said the suspects at gunpoint dispossessed Amuka of foreign currencies and Naira running into millions, the suspects claimed that only N200,000 was collected from their victim.

    According to them, two of the publisher’s security men had hinted them that he had foreign currencies at home and planned the attack.

    They claimed that their two accomplices were on duty on the night of the attack and advised them to tie them down, but not very hard.

    Abubakar, who told The Nation, he collected two pieces of a currency that was reddish, added that the money was N17,000 when they changed it.

    He said: “It was Mohammed that contacted me for the operation. During our interaction, Mohammed told me that it was one Gambo who has the contact of the house we are going to rob.

    “Mohammed said Gambo had assured him that they are not going to encounter any problem during the operation, since the security men attached to the house were in the know of the attack.

    “On the day of the operation, we stormed the house around 3:00am.

    “On arrival, we met the gate to the house open. The security men were already expecting us. We had no difficulty accessing the place.

    “The two security men on duty advised us to tie them down. They also said we should not tie them too hard. Based on their instruction, we tied them and left them inside the gate house.

    “We entered the main house through the ceiling. We met only the owner of the house at home sleeping in one of the rooms upstairs.

    “I stayed downstairs while Hassan and Musa went upstairs. As I ransacked the cabinet in the seating room, I saw two pieces of foreign currency on the floor.

    “I do not know which currency it was, but it was not Nigerian money. I saw only two pieces. We changed it and it was N17,000. What I got as my share was N70,000 and a wristwatch.  The total money we made was N200,000.”

    Oseni, 42, who said he was a security guard at Festac Town, claimed that same Mohammed contacted him for the robbery.

    “I was the one who broke the man’s drawer and saw newspapers inside. When I could not see any money, we went back and the man was the one who gave us N200,000 in an envelope.

    “It was Musa who hit the man with sledge hammer and when I saw that he was bleeding, I told him to leave the old man alone because he has given us money.”