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Tag: Niger

  • Road accident claims five in Niger

    The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) in Niger said that five people were killed in an accident on Saturday along Lambata Kwakuti Road in Gurara Local Government Area.

    FRSC Sector Commander, Mr Yusuf Garba, who disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna on Sunday, said that the accident involved a car and a truck.

    He said the accident involved a white colour BMW with registration number BWR 264 SR and a Scana truck with registration number ISR 16 XU.

    The sector commander said that all five occupants of the BMW died, adding that his men evacuated them to the Suleja General Hospital.

    According to him, the cause of the accident is over-speeding and dangerous overtaking.

    He said that FRSC would continue to monitor road users to guard against overloading and dangerous driving.

    Garba also called on road users to adhere to traffic rules and regulations to avoid unnecessary road crashes.

    “We have already embarked on a 24-hour patrol on all the federal highways to ensure safety of road users by enforcing traffic rules and regulations,” he said.

    He also appealed to residents in the state to promptly report road accidents to enable patrol officers to save lives. (NAN)

  • 9 people killed in Boko Haram attacks in Niger – Officials

    Authorities on Tuesday said nine people were killed on Monday night in Diffa city in southeast Niger in several attacks believed to be carried out by terrorist group Boko Haram.

    According to local officials on the spot, the tragedy was perpetrated by at least three suicide bombers who blew themselves up late at night in three different locations in downtown Diffa.

    The areas where the explosions occurred are cordoned off by the security Forces.

    The attacks came after a relative lull in the region, thanks in particular to the large-scale operations undertaken for over a year by a mixed multinational force composed of the armies of Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Nigeria, against the terrorist group Boko Haram.

    The localities of the Diffa region, especially those bordering Nigeria, have been suffering repeated attacks by the Nigeria-based terrorist group.

    Faced with the persistence of deadly attacks by Boko Haram, the region has been under a state of emergency since February 2015.

  • I am committed to rebranding Niger – Gov Sani Bello

    Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello has said that his resolve to rebrand the state in line with the manifesto of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC ) informed his actions in the last three years.

    He said he was propelled by the need to change the narrative of the state from being a civil service state to an economically viable and solvent entity.

    Governor Sani Bello stated this in an interactive session with journalists in the state as  part of activities to mark this year’s Democracy Day.

    Giving account of his stewardship, Governor Sani Bello said he was fully prepared for the restoration agenda he set in 2015 after his electioneering campaign in the 274 wards of the state, where he was confronted by massive infrastructural deficiency as a result of mismanagement of the state resources by the immediate past administration in the state.

    “When we came on board we met a decayed system with virtually all the infrastructures in dire need of attention and from the onset, we resolved to fix the infrastructual deficiency of the state, especially in the areas of education, health, roads and other sectors despite the merger resources of the state. The magnitude of the challenges we saw during the electioneering campaign ahead of 2015 election made us not to play politics of making empty and unfulfilable promises to our people.

    According to the governor, “that time we had an idea of the challenges, we had an the idea of the infrastructural gap, we had an idea of all the projects that were abandoned. But we didn’t get the full information on debt profile until we were sworn in. So this guided us from making promises that were unattainable. We knew if we had promised heaven and earth, we will be in problem now, rather, we took on the challenges in line with the manifesto of our party and today we thank God, we are making tremendous head way”.

    The governor also identified the decay in the basic education sector of the state as another area of concern on assumption of office. “The sight of our public schools was pathetic. Our boarding schools were not fit and condusive for teaching and learning. Most of the schools have not been touched in the last 40 years that they were built. Our schools were in bad shape.

    “Today out of 40 boarding schools in the state we have fixed 9 schools under the whole school renovation project. These schools were totally rehabilitated with perimetre fence, well furnished dometries, new classrooms, laboratories, workshops, libraries and staff quarters as well as functional kitchens”.

    In the area of water supply, Gov. Sani Bello said his administration in the last three years have invested heavily on both urban and rural water scheme, took on and completed some abandoned water projects by initiated by Engr. Abdullahi Abdulkadir Kure’s administration across the state while his administration has taken delivery of over 60 massive pumps for the rehabilitation and total turnaround of Minna, Bida, Suleja and Kontagora water plants.

    Highlighting his human development and legacy plans for the state, Governor Sani Bello said he was committed to changing the people’s perception and belief that Niger State is “a civil servant’s state”. He maintained that the state is endowed with a lot of potentials which the people can key into for economic improvement and dependence.

    “I felt bad when I assumed office and there was this common phrase that Niger is a civil servant state.  It made me feel very bad. Therefore I want to leave a system and a legacy that will move the people as well as the state away from being dependent on monthly handout from federal government to a self sustainable economy.

    “We have all the great potentials. We have all the potentials to be independent financially and economically. I want us to see that we produce millionaires and billionaires in Niger State because we have the potentials.

    “For me the major legacy is to leave a sustainable financial and economically viable system where majority of our populace are financially strong and are able to take care and cater for themselves.

    “We cannot continue to sit down and fold our arms and say Niger is a civil service state. It is not good enough. We can do better and we have started seeing results in the agricultural sector with the help of President Muhammadu Buhari ‘s idea of diversifying the economy.

    “We have to help our people by sensitizing them. We are to encourage them to engage in economic activities,  agricultural and mining activities. If we had planned and executed this 10 years ago, we would have been telling a different story now.

    “I  want us to become a commercial state. I want to expose Niger State,  we want to create a lot of business opportunities and activities,” he said.

    On the calls by various groups across the state on him to seek for re-election in 2019, the governor in an affirmative response said he will seek for a renewal of his mandate during the next year general elections.

    “Yes, I will seek for second term. We will go for re-election,” Gov. Sani Bello declared. “I want to appeal to Nigerlites to re-elect us to enable us complete what we have started”.

    According to him, most of the projects and programmes embarked upon by his administration are still in gestation period that requires his nuturing to fruition, “Our projects are still in the gestation stage and need more time to work. That is why we are going to seek for re-election during next elections,” he maintained.

    Gov. Sani Bello also urged Nigerians to support and elect President Buhari for second term, stresssing that the President means well for Nigeria.

    “President Buhari means well for Nigeria. He is so passionate about Nigeria that he forgets himself. He is not trying to deceive Nigerians, he is trying to get a great future for Nigerians.

    “I want Nigerians to support and encourage Mr. President, pray for him. If he does well, Nigeria will be good”.

    Jide Orintunsin is the Media and Publicity Coordinator to the Executive Governor of Niger State.

  • UNICEF, states collaborate to reduce out-of-school children figure

    The United Nations Children Fund ( UNICEF ) is working with four states in the North to reduce the number of out-of-school children in the region.

    The organisation is implementing its Cash Transfer Programme ( CTP ) in Sokoto, Niger, Zamafara and Kebbi states to boost enrolment in schools in the region.

    Its Education Specialist, Azuka Menkiti, said the CTP, which was introduced in 2014, had increased girls enrolment by 61 per cent in Sokoto and Niger and also contributed in the retention of pupils in school.

    She disclosed these in a presentation at a two-day media dialogue on Educate a Child and CTP in Sokoto.

    Menkati, who said the 10.5 million out-of-school children figure widely quoted may be out of date as its new programme may have reduced the figures.

    UNICEF believes several intervention programmes such as the cash transfer programme ( CTP ) as well as the Department for International Development ( DFID )-sponsored Educate a Child ( EAC ) project may have altered existing data on out-of-school children, hence such figures can no longer be reliable to aid planning in the sector.

    She said there was need for a review of the figures, so as to come up with a more reliable data.

    Her observation was also recently echoed by Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, who placed the number of out-of-school children at about 8.6 million.

    “The UNICEF cash transfer programme has been successful because it was targeted at addressing the economic barrier in education and we recently conducted assessment which has shown improvement in enrolment of girls children.

    “For us in making education accessible to everyone, we need to start empowering every family because poverty has become key problem hindering children from attending schools,” she said.

    She said the EAC project was aimed at increasing the quality of teaching, particularly for girls, at the basic education level, apart from expanding access to school.

    Menkiti explained that high level of poverty, which was found to hinder families from sending their children to school necessitated the CTP where cash gifts were offered to induce students to be in school.

    She noted that beyond cultural and religious factors, it was imperative for the government to mainstream girls’ education into their programmes by changing the mindset of all stakeholders towards the enrolment of girls in schools.

    “For UNICEF CTP has been successful because it was targeted at addressing the economic barriers in education and we recently conducted an assessment that has shown remarkable improvement in enrolment of girls.

    “For us, in making education accessible to everyone, we had to start empowering every family because poverty was identified to be a key problem hindering children from attending schools,” the UNICEF education expert added.

    She urged other states desirous of boosting enrolment in schools to replicate the CTP.

    Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III, said the state had recorded an increase in enrolment, empowerment, and drastic reduction of street hawking among girls through the programme.

    The Sultan, represented by Sani Jabbi, District Head of Gagi, said majority of female children have embraced education.

    The monarch, who was represented by Sarkin Yakin Gagi, Sani Umar Jabbi, said the state would continue to support girl-child education by ensuring that they are enrolled in schools.

    “We will continue to struggle to the end of our lives to ensure that every girl-child is enrolled in school, complete the school, transit to secondary school ‎and complete it. We need more professionals in human resources… We need more human resource in teaching profession in Sokoto. What we have now is largely dominated by males. About 60-80 percent is male dominated and demand for human resources in education and health is needed.

    “In the rural areas we have high burden of child-maternal mortality, as a result of the community not allowing females to search for knowledge in health-related professions as a result of male domination. It means there is need for all males to support girl-child education so that we can have more human resources for females in the health and education profession. We will continue until we ensure that 50 percent female and 50 percent male‎ is achieved. But for males to be 80 percent is unacceptable.

    “The curriculum being introduced in western education is still from western imperialism and has not been adjusted. We are still strongly against mixing mature males and females in school to mingle together.‎ So that’s why it tends to limit male participation.”

    Niger State CTP Coordinator, Idris Azika, said the state had concluded arrangements to spend N193 million in the next 3years.

    Azika added that 12,911 beneficiaries would be paid in the first phase of the state owned cash transfer sustainability plan.

  • Niger: Contestants in tears after affirmation of executives

    TEARS and protests trailed the affirmation of executives in the APC congress in Niger State as most of the delegates were not in agreement with the affirmation exercise.

    Confusion began after the National Electoral Committee Chairman for Niger State, Senator Domingo Obende, announced that the people had agreed for affirmation and consensus instead of election.

    Immediately after the announcement, one of the contestants for the position of State’s Women Leader, Mero Mohammed, burst into tears lamenting that her mandate had been stolen.

    This was followed by verbal protests by many other aspirants. However, despite the tears and the protests, the affirmation was confirmed by the Electoral Committee Chairman while most political appointees and elected officials were seen trying to appease the people.

    Acknowledging the protests, Domingo said, “It is normal in an event like this for protest to erupt, however, the most important thing is that they are in the minority. The majority will always have their say at the end of the day.

    “The Senator representing Niger North Senatorial District, Senator Abdullahi Sabi, moved the motion for affirmation of 34 executives into the Niger State APC while the Speaker of the Niger State House of Assembly, Honorable Ahmed Marafa, supported the motion.

    Amidst the motion of the affirmation, the people were heard shouting, ‘we do not want affirmation, we want election’, ‘do not impose candidates on us’, ‘let us vote for our officials ‘.

    Not less than nine local government areas were in disagreement over the affirmation order. The areas include Agaie, Gbako, Kontagora, Tafa, Katcha, Bida, Lavun, Mashegun and Lapai.

    Some of the positions which were in contention include the position of the Secretary, Woman Leader, the Public Relations Officer and the State Organising Secretary.

    The Niger State APC Chairman, Jibril Imam; Secretary,  Mohammed Liman and Woman Leader, Fatima Mustapha were among the 34 executives returned to office.

  • ‘Codeine ban: A breakthrough in fight against drug abuse’

    Northern Governors’ Wives Forum (  NGWF  ) on Tuesday commended Federal Government for banning the production and importation of codeine syrup, saying it is a breakthrough in the fight against drug abuse.

    Hajiya Hadiza Abubakar, Chairperson of the forum and wife of Bauchi State Governor, gave the commendation in a statement signed by her Press Secretary, Rashida Yusuf in Bauchi.

    Yusuf stated that the governor’s wife expressed happiness over the ban, announced by Federal Ministry of Health on May 2, and described drug addiction among youths in the country as canker worm that had eaten deep into the fabric of societies.

    She quoted Abubakar as saying “the NGWF made the fight against drug abuse its priority intervention project.

    “The forum in collaboration with relevant stakeholders took holistic approach to curbing drug abuse in the country, particularly in the North where it was more pronounced.

     Read Also: Codeine: NAFDAC shuts Emzor, two Ilorin firms

    “Following training for northern governor’s wives from the six states of Benue, Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kogi and Bauchi, we are at various stages of implementing a work plan.”

    She said that the forum had set up a drug control committee, a drug community volunteer scheme, skill acquisition centres, as well as a female rehabilitation wing to eradicate the menace.

    She explained that the centres were expected to among other things; rehabilitate victims of drug abuse by counselling and providing moral support that would enable addicts to become useful members of the society.

    She urged stakeholders involved in the fight against drug abuse to ensure all hands were on deck to achieve the target of a drug-free society.

    She also urged parents to monitor their wards with a view to nipping detected untoward behaviours in the bud.

    NAN

     

  • AEDC retrenches 500 staff in Niger, Nasarawa, Abuja

    The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC),  has retrenched 500 workers in its offices in Abuja, Niger and Nasarawa states.

    The affected persons were served their sack letters between Tuesday and Thursday.

    The Nation learnt most of the affected staff were the casual staff who were engaged when the AEDC took over from the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and some senior staff who were over 35 years of service.

    A visit to the AEDC office in Niger State revealed that the sack was true as a lot of the affected staff were wearing long, mourning look as they were being consoled by those who were retained.

    Our correspondent learnt that the management had promised to pay the entitlement of those affected soon.

    The development was confirmed by the AEDC Director of Corporate Affairs, Ahmed Shekarau who said the sack was to ensure transformation takes place in the organization.

    He said that the management needed to replace redundant and uneducated staff in order for it to move forward adding that the number of those sacked is lower that what is being peddled but refused to state the actual number of staff affected.

  • UNICEF: Enrollment in Niger, Sokoto, increase by 61.8%

     

    The Cash Transfer Programme ( CTP ) of the United Nations Children’s Fund ( UNICEF ) has increased enrolment of girls in schools in Niger and Sokoto states by 61.8 per cent.

    The organisation said the programme has also reached 23, 000 girls in both states.

    Chief of Education, UNICEF Nigeria, Terry Durnnian, said this at a briefing to launch a report titled: “Impact Evaluation of UNICEF Nigeria Girls’ Education Project Phase 3 ( GEP3 ) Cash Transfer Programme in Niger and Sokoto states” in Abuja on Thursday.

    A breakdown of the report showed that enrolment by girls in Niger state had increased by 29.4 per cent while that of Sokoto state stood at 32.4 per cent.

    The CTP is being implemented in Niger, Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states.

    It provides 665 under-privileged girls the opportunity to enroll and also remain in schools.

    Mr. Durnnian said: “I am delighted to be here today to talk about one of our education interventions that has successfully managed to remove some of these barriers and given more girls and boys in Sokoto, Niger, Kebbi and Zamfara states an opportunity to go to school and stay in school.

    “Children living in rural areas have less of a chance of going to school than those living in urban areas. Most of these children are girls; girls who never went to school from the beginning, and girls who have to drop out due to social and cultural reasons.

    “The programme is specifically designed to address the poverty-related reasons preventing children to enroll and stay in school. It gives families an opportunity to cover direct and opportunity costs related to their children’s-especially girls’ education. These costs include cost of uniforms, textbooks, learning materials and the lost benefit that the family will miss from the child’s contribution to the family income by going to school.

    “I am delighted to tell you that to date more than 23, 000 girls have benefitted from the programme in Niger and Sokoto states. The girls’ enrolment rate has increased by 29.4% in Niger and 32.4% in Sokoto. Both state governments have continued to rollout the programme and are successfully reaching more children.

    “In Kebbi and Zamfara states, the programme has started. We have already reached out to close to 11, 000 girls and boys with the first cash transfer payment.”

    He said UNICEF is committed to ensure that children in Nigeria enjoyed quality education.

    Durnnian identified poverty as one of the reasons why children stay away from school.

    “In Nigeria, more than 10 million children are out of school. Most of these children are girls and in the northern part of the country.

    “There are several reasons why these children are not in school. Often, children from the poorest families are more likely to be out of school than the ones from wealthier households. Children living in rural areas also have less chance of going to school than those growing up in cities.

    “Some girls are forced to marry. Some boys must work to help their families survive financially. These are just few examples.

    “When asked, parents and guardians cite poverty-related reasons as the most important, determining factor why their children are not in school.

    “We at UNICEF are dedicated to ensure all children can enjoy their right to a quality education, from early learning opportunities that lay the groundwork for success in school, all the way through secondary school.

    “Quality education equips children to succeed in school, perform productive work, take care of themselves and lead fulfilling lives,” he added.

  • Gov. Bello charges corps members to be change agents

    Gov. Abubakar Bello of Niger has charged corps members to serve as change agents and mobilise their host communities toward a better Nigeria.

    The governor, in a speech at the swearing-in ceremony of the 2018 Batch A corps members in Minna on Monday, also challenged them to sensitise the people on patriotism and the supremacy of the national interest.

    ‘‘It is my belief that your education, exposure and this subsequent call for national service have prepared you to fight those vices working against Nigeria’s development.

    “It is also my belief that you will be a shining light to communities that you will be working with, in the course of your primary assignment,” he said.

    Bello assured the corps members of adequate security throughout the year, but advised them to be security conscious.

    Earlier, Mrs. Theresa Arokoyo, the NYSC Coordinator in Niger, had said that 1,969 corps members had been registered for the exercise, adding that 995 were females while 974 were males.
    She said that the corps members had exhibited high sense of discipline and responded satisfactorily to camp instructions.

    Arokoyo advised the corps members to take advantage of the scheme’s skills acquisition programme to learn trades that could help them in future.

    NAN

     

  • Police burst illegal firearms factory in Niger

    Niger state Police Command has uncovered an illegal firearms factory in Mashegu local government area of the state.

    110 assorted guns which included locally made pistols, locally fabricated AK 47 and automatic machine guns along with 80 ammunitions were recovered from the factory.

    Briefing newsmen in Minna, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Paul Dibbal said that the police got a tip about some group of people who manufactured different types of guns adding that with that information, the Police went into operation to arrest them.

    He stated that the Command is determined to follow the directive of the Inspector General of Police to mop up illegal arms and ammunition adding that a task force charged with this duty have commenced full operation across Niger state.

    Dibbal advised anyone with illegal arms and ammunition to voluntarily submit them adding that after the expiration of the ultimatum given by the IGP, any person or group found to be in possession of illegal arms would be made to face the wrath of the law.