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Tag: Nasir el-Rufai

  • Buhari, IGP observe Jumaat prayer in Aso Rock

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday observed his Jumaat prayer along with other Muslims faithful in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Among those in the mosque during the Jumaat prayer were the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris and Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai.

    When the IGP went to exchange pleasantries with the President at the end of the prayer, President Buhari asked him: “Are you back?”

    Read Also: Saraki to meet Buhari over ‘IGP’s plot to implicate him’

    Idris in recent weeks had not been in good term with the Senate as he failed to honour three invitations extended to him over increasing killings by herdsmen and harsh treatment against Senator Dino Melaye by the Police.

    The Senate had subsequently passed a vote of no confidence on the IGP, describing him as “enemy of democracy’’ and unfit to hold any public office anywhere in the world.

    The Senate President Bukola Saraki, on Thursday, accused the IGP of trying to implicate him and Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, in a criminal case involving some suspected cultists.

    Following the accusation, the Senate has raised a 10-man panel to meet with President Buhari over the allegation leveled against the IGP by Saraki.

  • nPDP members leaving APC won’t reduce Buhari’s votes in 2019 – El-Rufai

    Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai on Tuesday said that the threat by the New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) members to leave the All Progressives Congress (APC) won’t have any negative impact on President Muhammadu Buhari’s desire to win the Presidential election next year.
    He spoke with State House correspondents after meeting with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
    The Governor said “I don’t agree and I want to go back to 2003. What are we talking about? Who are these new PDP people that are threatening? This is Kwara, Kano, Sokoto, Adamawa, Rivers but I don’t think Amaechi is part of them.
    “So let’s take these four states, go back to 2003 and check. Buhari then under ANPP won in all these four states. Go back to 2007, Buhari won  in these four states. Even when Shakarau was running as a presidential candidate in 2011, Buhari defeated him in Kano.
    “And, I have no doubt in my mind that even if the people threatening to leave, leave, it will have absolutely no impact on the presidential elections, the president will win Sokoto, Kwara and Adamawa easily.

    Read Also: Ignore Baraje’s nPDP threat, Kwara APC urges Buhari

    “Kano is already in the bag, I mean if you saw the crowd that welcome the president without the former governor Kwanasho, Kano has always been the president’s base.
    “To me that is not the issue, the issue is that they have written, they have expressed grievances, some of the grievances are legitimate and should be looked into. But to threaten to leave the party is neither here nor there.
    “If they are honest with themselves they know that President Buhari  will win those states with or without them. But if you have a grievance, we are a party and politics is a game of addition not subtraction, so we don’t want to loose anyone.
    “So, I think those the letters were addressed to ought to study it and look into what is reasonably possible to accommodate them because politics as I said is a game of addition.” he said
    Asked why he deployed electronic voting in his state for the APC Ward congresses, he said “I didn’t come about it, it was the chairman of the state independent electoral commission, Dr. Saratu Dikko Audu, who was my chemistry teacher in the university that proposed the idea of electronic voting. Because, she felt that since we used the card reader in the 2015 elections, the next logical step is to connect the card reader to an electronic voting system and we supported it.
    “They went on a study tour to Brazil, India to study their own voting systems and they finally ended up with a manufacturer in China. The same  manufacturer that manufactured the card reader, designed and manufactured the electronic voting machines for us.
    “The independent electoral commission of Kaduna State, brought in 300 of the machines and spent some months going round the state, market places, people’s homes to test the use of the machines to show that ordinary people can use it. It cost us a lot of money, the entire election cost us in the region of N4 billion.
    “But, mind you with the electronic voting now we don’t need ballot paper, so we saved N1.7 billion in ballot papers alone. And, these machines can be used for three or four more elections because they can last for 10 years, all we need is to upgrade the software to add more parties and so on.
    “So, we believe that overall is good value for money and it has worked very well. What we are very happy about is that ordinary people could use it, the interface was friendly, simply and you can finish voting for the chairman and chancellor in less than 15 seconds.” he said
    On what difference it made in terms of credibility, he said that it gave people the confidence that their votes mattered.
    He added “And for many people that didn’t even want to go out to vote in the elections, curiosity of the electronic voting machines brought them out. It made a lot of difference because the electronic voting machine has a record of how many people have voted and once the time for voting closes, it closes and you cannot take it and add more votes.
    “Of course human factors intervened, some people abducted the presiding officers with the machines and engaged in multiple voting. Some people tried to change the results and of course we are still doing manual collection.
    “But the data in the electronic voting machine can still be used to discredit some of those changes during the tribunal process. And in areas where there were gross abuses in some of the wards and local governments, SIKON has decided that they will be by-elections.
    “One of the problems that led to the human factor problems that I mentioned, was because INEC denied us the use of the Card reader. When we were designing the machine, we had the option of integrating the card reader, so that you come with your voters card, put in your voters card biometrically confirmed that it is your card and then the machine will open for you to vote.
    “But we thought that that will be too complicated since people are used to being accredited separately, it is better we take INEC’s card reader for accreditation and then our machine for voting. But a week to the election, INEC said they are not going to give us the card reader. The reasons they gave to me were not acceptable.
    “I called the chairman and I tried to persuade him to make it available to us but we didn’t get the card reader. I am hoping, I have spoken to him again, that for the bye-elections, the two local governments and the other wards, we are going to get the card reader so that the human link that is subject to abuse would be eliminated and hen you cannot change anything.
    “If you change anything the card reader will expose the number of those accredited and that number must tally with the number of people that voted, otherwise the result gets automatically cancelled. So we are working on that.
    “So I have just seen Mr. President, I have briefed him on this and he has expressed his pleasure at the way and manner as a party in Kaduna, we are allowed free and fair elections. The president believes in free, fair and credible elections and he said it doesn’t matter if you loose some local governments, what is important is for the elections to be free and fair.
    “This is an APC government, it is a government of fairness and justice and he was very happy with the way we conducted the elections with Kaduna so far.” he said
    He disagreed with the claims in some quarters that the electoral law does not support electronic.
    He said “I don’t agree with that. There is an amendment to the Electoral Act that President Jonathan signed a few days before he left office which legitimize the use of the card reader and other electronic systems for voting. So, in my view the current Electoral Act has provision for the electoral voting.
    “But, that is not even what we used in Kaduna. In Kaduna, we enacted our own electoral law that made provision for the for electronic voting machine and card reader, everything was totally legitimized and passed by our State House of Assembly and I think every state can do the same. But, I also believe that the current legal framework allows for it.” he said
    He recommend the use of electronic voting to at the Federal, State government levels and everyone.
    “I have already offered to my colleagues state governors that are yet to conduct local government  elections that they can come to Kaduna and we can give them the machines on mutually acceptable terms.
    “All you will need is to change the software, it will have the logo of the state and the number of parties active in the state and the number of parties active in the state and they can use it. It is easy.
    “At federal level I will recommend it as well because with the card reader and the electronic voting machine, the era of rigging elections is almost over and I think that is when people will have confidence in the process and will come out enmass to vote for their leaders.
    “Having said that, I know we have been working on this for about one year before we got to where we are. Although it is possible for INEC to do it, it will be logistically difficult. But nothing stops them from trying if the resources are available. Because, the machines have already been manufactured, the designs are there, you only need to place the orders to the Chinese and I’m sure they will deliver them in no time.
    “But, you need some months to go round and do some advocacy, to show people how to use it. I think it may be possible to use it in the next elections but I am not INEC. INEC has better appreciation of their logistics challenges I can only give my own opinion about what I think. But, it is something that I highly recommend for adoption through out the country.” he stated

  • El-Rufai transforming Kachia to urban area – Agwom Adara

    The Governor Nasir el-Rufai led Kaduna state government is transforming Kachia and neighbouring communities into urban area with the projects being executed in the area, the Agwom Adara has said.

    The second class traditional ruler, Malam Maiwada Galadima stated this when a team of journalists under the auspices of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Kaduna state council, touring projects being executed by the Kaduna state government in Southern Kaduna senatorial zone paid him a courtesy call in his palace in Kachia on Thursday.

    “The projects are blessing to the people, the roads projects have transformed Kachia to an urban area. Our schools and hospitals have all been transformed.

    “If a group comes to inspect such projects, I want to appreciate the initiative. I also want to commend the present government. We have great improvements in our area,” he said.

    The monarch commended the journalists for deeming it fit to visit him, while charging them to always remain objectives in their reports. 

    Read Also: El-Rufai to employers: Don’t reject corps members

    “I want to appreciate your initiative of identifying with the traditional institution that is why you are here. We have confidence in journalists; we have confidence in journalism, if reports are distorted, we won’t know the truth.”

    Secretary of the NUJ Kaduna Council, Alhaji Dauda Idris Doka, who led the team, told the monarch that coming to Kachia was a blessing because since the tour commenced, the team had not been granted audience by any traditional ruler.

    He said the tour was to a insect projects being executed by Governor Nasir el-Rufai administration, while praising the Agwom Adara for his humility and prayed for God to give him wisdom to continue to lead his people peacefully.

    Surveyor Marcus Saleh, Project Coordinator of Farmtrac Nigeria Ltd, a company handling road and school projects in Southern Kaduna, said that his company was awarded N1.2 billion, 10km Kachia township road project, which is 62% completed.

    “We are also handling10km road project in Sanga, 4km township and 6km bypass at N1.3 billion. In Kauru, we have 36km Kwassam-Gisheri road at N3.5 billion, including a 60m bridge, which is 45% completed.

    “The 19km Laduga link road Kachia and 15km Kafachan township road were old projects that were re-awarded to our company.

    “All the projects are surface dressed with drainage, they are all scheduled for completion in eight weeks,” Marcus said, while explaining that the projects are based on retainership.

  • El-Rufai to employers: Don’t reject corps members

    AS 2,200 2018 batch ‘A’ corps members deployed to Kaduna State by National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) completed the 21-day orientation course, the State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai has warned corps employers against corps rejection.

    Corps rejection, a situation where prospective employers (ministries, departments and agencies) refused to absorb corps member into their organisations usually due to lack or insufficient accommodation facilities remains the top challenge young Nigerian students face immediately after orientation course.

    Officially declaring the orientation course closed at NYSC Permanent Orientation camp on Wednesday, the Governor, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture, Alhaji Adamu said, instead of rejection, employers should rather help corps members settle down in good time to enable them offer their best to their motherland within the next 10 months.

    According to the Governor, “Corps employers in the state should do away with rejection of corps members posted to them but assist them to settle down as quick as possible to serve the nation here in Kaduna State.

    “I wish to reiterate our stand that rejection of corps members is against the spirit and noble intentions behind the establishment of the service scheme, therefore unacceptable”.

    Earlier in an address, Coordinator of the scheme in the state, Alhaji Dahunsi Mohammed re-echoed the NYSC’s earlier request for the provision of additional hostel facilities to accommodate camp officials and the increase number of corps members being deployed to Kaduna state.

    He urged corps members to accept their postings in good fate, report, complete necessary documentation and settle down as quickly as possible at their designated places of primary assignment (PPA).

    “I urge you to do your best to integrate with members of your host communities, appreciate and understand their culture and tradition as soon as you can, and respect same.”

    “Do not involve yourself in local politics of your host communities. Identify with their areas of need and come up with strategies of ameliorating their sufferings by initiating and executing meaningful community development projects”, the coordinator added.

    He however charged them to be modest in all their activities, humble and security conscious at all times.

  • Nothing is possible without security – El-Rufai

    Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State had described Security as the foundation of development, saying that nothing is possible without some level of security.

    Gov El-Rufai made the remarks on Wednesday in Kaduna when members Senior Executive Course 40 of National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies visited him.

    The group was in Kaduna on study tour on strengthening security.

    He said the present administration in the state and national level  have  made significant progress in improving the security environment, but said in spite of the efforts there were still areas of concern.

    According to him, in managing security require exploring the root cause and taking effective measures to tackle the challenges.

    The governor identified the menace of street gangs, kidnappers, armed bandits as some of the security challenges in the state.

    “We have been working with police to curtail that, and also prosecuting offenders with stiffer penalties,” he said.

    According to him, the indigene, settler phenomenon has contributed immensely to creating deep division among the people of Nigeria.

    “Until we retrace ourselves and move away from that and look at the citizen from what he or she can contribute; we are sad with the way people are now, as the more educated they are the more ignorant they become.”

    El-Rufai said the issue of state policing should be looked at again, as it provides a new opportunity to strengthen security in the country.

    “There are nine governors who strongly believe in state police, the current number of policemen in the country is grossly inadequate, there is need to double the number of police personnel.”

    He dismissed arguments that state governments would not be able to pay the salaries of the police if created, claiming that the states were responsible for the running cost and overhead of the federal police.

    Earlier in his remark, Acting Director General of the institute, Mr Jonathan Juma explained that the visit was to aggregate efforts being made to enhance security in the state.

    He added that the participants would make recommendations to government based on the information generated in the course of the study tour.

    NAN

  • Kaduna Reps fault senate’s rejection of $350m loan

     

    Fifteen members of the House of Representatives from Kaduna state have faulted the Senate’s rejection of the $350m World Bank loan request by the Kaduna State Government.

    The Senate had on Thursday rejected the request by the State for the $350m loan, saying it would worsen the debt profile of the state.

    The rejection was based on the recommendation of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debt and the three senators from the state.

    However, the caucus members of the House of Representatives from Kaduna State thought otherwise.

    The caucus comprises of members drawn from the All Progressives Congress and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party in the House of Representatives from the state.

    The Leader of the House of Representatives Caucus, Datti Babawo, (representing Sabon Gari Federal Constituency,Kaduna State), insisted that all the fifteen members out of sixteen, actually approved the $350m for the state because of the enormous benefit the state would derived from the loan.

    Babawo noted that the Senate’s rejection of the loan was purely political which would at the long run, do the state no good.

    Speaking in an interview with newsmen on behalf of the fifteen other members on Tuesday in Kaduna, the lawmaker added that his colleagues supported the government’s plan to access the loan because they believe it would boost infrastructural development in the state.

    He described the Senate’s rejection of the loan as not only political but a reflection of the abuse of power by the three senators from the state who are supposed to put the interest of the people above their personal interests.

    He said: “On a monthly basis, the Governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai whenever he comes to Abuja we always call for a meeting; the national assembly caucus, both the House of Representatives and the Senate; and tell about this loan. Initially, the three senators do attend the meeting but the two stopped coming, leaving only Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi to attending. But later, he too decided not to come.

    “We as caucus of the House of Representatives, about 15 of us out of 16 have approved the loan because we were fully briefed by the governor. He told us why he is looking for the loan. He is so passionate with the issue of education. He told us how he would want to revive education.

    “He had renovated more than 480 primary schools. When they found out that it was not easy after renovating over 480 schools. And the renovation was a full one; with chairs, toilet, water and many facilities and he had invited development partners, including telecommunication giant, the MTN, to assist.

    “But you find out that it was not that easy for the government alone to renovate the over 800 primary schools in the state. That led  the governor making proposal of $100m  to the World Bank. But the World Bank was impressed and asked that after the renovation of primary schools, what about the secondary schools, tertiary  the comatose industries and so on in the state.

    “On this basis, he then made another proposal to increase this loan to $350m to Kaduna State. The governor truly briefed us. It was that submission that the Minister of Finance saw and took it to her own governor(Ogun State) because of the enormous benefit to her state.

    “Her governor also applied for the same $350m. It was the same senate, condition and the same amount of money they approved but refused that of Kaduna State.

    “It is strictly political. It has nothing to do with development. The interest of those who were opposed to it were strictly for their own personal and selfish reason and for the benefit of the people of this state.”

    Babawo added, “People that don’t want to see the development of the education sector. The governor had planned to revived the education system. He has also made provision to build a comprehensive health centres for each of the 255 wards in the state with partnership with General Electronic of the USA.

    “They are the ones to equip these hospitals. And he has comprehensive plans for road development and Metrolines within the Kaduna Metropolis and how to revive the comatose industries. So, it is exactly what has happened.

    “That’s why we in the House of Representatives, are so enthusiastic and pass this without only one opposition, including the Peoples Democratic Party member. We sat, looked at all the agreement and we discovered that the loan is almost free. Even the interest is half percent and has a repayment period of 50 years. That’s why we supported the governor.

    “Anybody who knows our governor knows him as somebody that us hard working and straight forward. He is somebody that is not given to pretence. Whatever he wants to do, he goes straight and do it. We are convince and we positive on our side and that is why we supported that the loan be obtain by Kaduna State. Why is it that all the states’ loan were approved with the exception of Kaduna State. It is politics.” He argued.

  • El-Rufai lays foundation for 600 housing units

    Kaduna  State Governor Nasir El-Rufai yesterday laid the foundation for 600 housing units, a five-star hotel and two shopping malls in Kaduna.

    The ground breaking ceremony was performed at four locations with different partners expected to invest in the projects.

    Jifatu Limited will build 500 of the 600 units and a shopping mall, worth N2 billion, while Ummhi will complement with 100 units.

    Ammsalco industry will also build a modern shopping mall and hotel on Public Private Partnership (PPP) at the Murtala Mohammed Square to boost economic and social activities.

    At the event yesterday, El-Rufai said the houses, including 2, 3, and 4-bedroom duplexes, detached and semi-detached apartments, are medium and low income houses aimed at providing affordable housing for residents.

    He said: “There is a 17 million housing deficit in Nigeria, to which Kaduna State contributes five per cent. We need over 30,000 housing units to satisfy the need of residents.”

    He stressed that the All Progressives Congress-led (APC) government is committed to reducing this housing deficit.

    “As you know, the Minister of Finance has launched the family homes project across the states. Five thousand hectares have been allocated to the Federal Government to build low and medium income housing.

    “I appeal to the communities to cooperate with the developers because every development creates job for people residing there,” he added.

    The governor, however, assured the developers that the government will protect their interest by deploying security agencies in the communities.

    “We hope that in the next one year, we will return to inaugurate these projects, though we have been assured that the shopping mall would be ready in June,” he said.

  • Kaduna secondary school teachers to write competence test soon – El-Rufai

    Governor Nasir el-Rufa’i of Kaduna state has disclosed that Competency tests for secondary school teachers will soon be conducted across the state to separate the incompetent ones from those that are competent. 

    Kaduna state government conducted similar test for the over 30,000 primary school teachers in the state last year, following which 21,780 that failed to obtain 70% pass mark were sacked and replaced with newly recruited 25,000 teachers. 

    Speaking on Sunday on his twitter handle, @GovKaduna, monitored in Kaduna, el-Rufai noted that the state is committed to restoring the integrity of the teaching profession. 

    He also revealed that the state government has decided to pay urban teachers in the state 27.5% higher than average civil servants, while rural teachers will earn 32.5% higher than their other civil service colleagues to attract the best to the teaching profession. 

    “We are doing our best to restore the integrity of the teaching profession. We have finished tests for primary school teachers and we are going to administer competency tests for secondary school teachers.”

    The competency test for primary school teachers and subsequent sack of those that failed the test caused lot of brouhaha with the Nigeria Union of Teachers ( NUT ) and the umbrella body for workers, Nigeria Labour Congress ( NLC ) taking umbrage at what they referred to as unfair treatment of teachers.

    Despite the unions embarking on protest after which they took legal action, the state government stuck by its gun and followed through with its decision. This latest step, if taken, may cause further uproar in the state.

  • Kaduna: El-Rufai directs prosecution of culprits in Magani mayhem

    Kaduna: El-Rufai directs prosecution of culprits in Magani mayhem

    The Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai has directed the prosecution of persons responsible for the Monday mayhem that occurred at Kasuwan Magani in Kajuru local government area of the state.

    The government said the security agencies must investigate “this unfortunate incident, arrest and make available for prosecution the perpetrators.”

    Samuel Aruwan, Gov. El-Rufai’s spokesman, disclosed this in a statement issued in Kaduna, shortly after receiving preliminary report of the mayhem.

    Aruwan said government condemned the violence and regretted the wanton killing of people.

    He said the government expressed sympathy to the victims and their families.

    He said government has directed the State Emergency Management Agency ( SEMA ) to take inventory of damages and provide relief materials with immediate effect.

    Aruwan said that security personnel had also been deployed to contain the situation, protect lives and properties as well as prevent any further breakdown of law and order.

    He said that government urged all citizens and communities to reject violence and division and uphold their neighbours in peace and harmony.

    NAN

  • BREAKING: Kaduna factional APC secretariat demolished

    BREAKING: Kaduna factional APC secretariat demolished

    The recently commissioned factional office of the ruling All Progressives Congress ( APC ) in Kaduna State has been demolished.

    The faction had after the opening of the parallel office on 11A Sambo road last week Thursday, issued query to Governor Nasir El-Rufai and suspended three of his allies.

    Three days after the query, precisely on Sunday, the Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi led faction suspended Governor El-Rufai for six months, giving El-Rufai’s failure to answer the query issued him as reason.

    ALSO READ: APC senator declares interest to unseat El-Rufai

    However, The Nation gathered that, the secretariat was demolished around 5am on Tuesday.

    Meanwhile, when our correspondent visited the site around 8am, stern looking thugs were on ground, keeping vigil at the ruins of the building and brandishing their already loaded catapults, an indication that, they were ready for war.

    However, as at the time of filing this report, no official of the faction had made any comment on the development.

    Details later…..