The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigeria News

  • Bindow decries increase in arms banditry in Adamawa

    Bindow decries increase in arms banditry in Adamawa

    Gov. Mohammed Bindow of Adamawa has decried the increased reports of arm robbery in the state, urging security agencies to rise up to the situation.

    Bindow made this known on Tuesday while receiving the new Assistant Inspector General (AIG) Kayode Aderanti in charge of Zone 3, who paid him a courtesy visit in Yola.

    Zone 3 comprises of Adamawa, Taraba and Gombe States.

    The governor called on the police to intensify their operations to check the menace.

    He urged the residents to build more trust in the police and report suspicious movements to security agencies.

    Read also: Bindow pleads with Adamawa people to pay tax

    Bindow also commended the Mobile Police detachment deployed to Madagali for being effective in their operations.

    The governor assured AIG Aderanti of the state government’s support to ensure effective security of the state.

    He lauded the synergy among various security agencies in the state, urging them to work for a common goal of securing lives and property.

    Earlier, Aderanti said that he was sent to ensure adequate policing of the zone.

    He assured people of the zone of effective policing that would encourage foreign investors in the state and its neighbours.

    “I was deployed here to change the security narratives of this zone.

    “I appeal to the feuding communities to eschew violence and embrace peace for development,’’ he said.

    NAN

  • NACOMYO advocates special programmes to address challenges of youth

    NACOMYO advocates special programmes to address challenges of youth

    Bauchi State Coordinator of National Council of Muslim Youth Organisation ( NACOMYO ), Dr Ahmed Sabo, has called for the fashioning out of programmes that would address challenges faced by youth.

    Speaking on Tuesday when he led a delegation of the council on a visit to Bauchi Zonal office,  he said the future of any society depended on what it made of its youth.
    He said NACOMYO placed high premium on molding character, adding that the state chapter of the council had initiated programmes that would help youth address challenges and enable them attain their set goals.
    “Our activities are aimed at helping youth address their challenges and equipping them with the good character that will guarantee societal development.
    “This agenda is very crucial because most societal challenges are attributable to lack of good leadership; the youth need to be mobilized continuously to appreciate their role in fashioning out a better society in future,” he said.

    Read Also: NACOMYO  seeks Muslim participation in guber poll

    Sabo therefore solicited the support of journalists in publicizing the activities of his council.
    “This responsibility of molding the character of our future leaders, is a collective one, as such we are appealing to your agency for support.
    “We need the assistance in the area of publicity to enable the effective mobilization of youth,” h e said.
    Also in his remarks, Chairman of Bauchi Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists ( NUJ ), who is also the Secretary of NACOMYO in the state, Alhaji Ibrahim Mallam-Goje, said they had confidence in the ability  to render the needed support.
    Responding, Alhaji Abdullahi Salihu, promised that the agency would partner with all organizations working to enhance the fortunes of youth.
  • Dogara calls for completion of 2nd Niger Bridge, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

    Dogara calls for completion of 2nd Niger Bridge, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

    The Speaker, House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara on Tuesday called for the completion of the Second Niger Bridge and Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, saying that they are pivotal to national development.

    Dogara made the call while declaring open a two-day investigative hearing on the nature of the contract or concession arrangement on the projects, organised by the House Committee on Works.

    Represented by the Deputy Minority Leader, Rep. Chukwuka Onyema, Dogara said that the investigative hearing became critical given that the projects were constant ugly features in national discourse.

    While stating that proactive steps must be taken to ensure early completion of the projects, the Speaker said that the projects constitute vital arterial network for the country’s road transport system.

    “They have become media sensations and highly politicized to the extent that it now seems that we are playing games with the lives of our people.

    Read also: No hiding place for killers – Dogara

    “Past administrations have celebrated progress ostensibly made on them while achieving little or nothing in reality,’’ Dogara said.

    According to the Speaker, the House observed that contracts for the projects continued to feature in annual budgets without any seeming signs of their completion or total amount required to do so.

    “The Minister for Power, Works and Housing stated that funds for the projects in 2017 Appropriation Act were reduced, so they run the risk of becoming white elephant projects because they are not under concession or Public-Private Partnership arrangement.’’

    He added that the manner of execution of the projects was not in accordance with any defined method of projects execution.

    “The Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority had spent about N18 billion on the Second Niger Bridge as the financier during their early stages.

    “As a result of these observations, the House, by resolution, urged the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing to provide funds in the 2018 budget for the completion of the projects,’’ the Speaker said.

    Dogara noted that the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway had become a subject of litigations as the government vacillates between executing it through PPP arrangement and direct funding.

    “Unfortunately, the same affliction is seeping into the execution of the Second Niger Bridge.

    “If the House of Representatives, in its oversight responsibility, does not step in at this time, we run the risk of continuing this path and the rehabilitation of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway will remain a mirage and the Second Niger Bridge will never get constructed,’’ Dogara said.

    NAN

  • Community cries out to Kaduna govt. on basic amenities

    Community cries out to Kaduna govt. on basic amenities

    Gobirawa Community in Igabi Local Government Area (LGA) of Kaduna State has cried out to the state government to provide basic social amenities which are lacking in the area.

    The District Head, Malam Umaru Haruna told newsmen who visited the area on Tuesday that the major challenges in the community were lack of access roads, hospitals and schools.

    Haruna said the community which has over 300 inhabitants, usually get disconnected with neighboring villages during raining season due to lack of a connecting bridge.

    “We usually get cut off for the period of three months because we cannot cross the river due to the speed of the water and as such, we cannot even carry our farm produce to the town.

    Read Also: Police confirm release of abducted expatriates in Kaduna

    “We remain in our community till when the season is over in spite of the critical situation,” he said.

    Haruna pointed out that a large number of people die yearly while trying to cross the river.

    “We cannot give the exact number of life lost, but a large number of people die every year while trying to cross the river,’’ he said.

    Haruna said a number of sick persons comprising women and children have also died due to lack of access road to hospital in town.

    He appealed to the state government to provide a primary health care centre in the community, so as to reduce the daily challenges faced by women, children and the elderly in the area.

    Majority of the people in the community are local farmers, fishermen and cattle breeders, while the women are predominantly engaged in petty trading.

    NAN

  • Cashier jailed three months for stealing travel bag

    Cashier jailed three months for stealing travel bag

    A Karmo Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, on Tuesday sentenced a cashier, Anthony Joseph, 26, to three months imprisonment for stealing a travel bag.

    Joseph, who resides at Karmo village, Abuja, was arraigned on a two-count charge of theft and mischief.

    The convict had pleaded guilty to the charge and begged the court for leniency.

    The judge, Abubakar Sadiq, however, gave the convict the option to pay N10, 000 as fine.

    Sadiq said the punishment would have been more severe if the accused had not pleaded guilty and saved the court the pains of prolonged prosecution.

    He also ordered him to pay N10, 000 as compensation to the nominal complainant.

    Earlier, the prosecutor, Dalhatu Zannah, told the court that one Sunday Nkwoji of Dape village reported the matter at the Karmo Police Station on Jan. 18.

    Read Also:Court awards $10m against Shoprite for breach of contracts

    Zannah told the court that sometime in Nov. 2017 the convict visited the complainant and cleverly stole his travel bag valued at N4, 000.

    He said that the convict stole the complainant’s bag containing his three ATM cards, a phone worth N6,000, a shoe and other valuable items.

    The prosecutor said that the convict criminally attempted to use the complainant’s Diamond Bank ATM card with a wrong pin to withdraw money but the card was seized and one of the cards got damaged.

    He said that during police investigation and interrogation, the convict admitted committing the offence while the bag, shoe and one Diamond Bank ATM card were recovered from him.

    The prosecutor said to recover the other items valued N10, 000 proved abortive.

    Zannah pointed out that the offence contravened the provisions of Sections 288 and 327 of the Penal Code.

    Following the guilty plea of the convict, the prosecutor asked the court for summary trial in line with Section 347 of the Administration of Criminal Justices Act, 2015.

    NAN

  • Sell at N145 or lose your petrol, DPR warns Anambra marketers

    Sell at N145 or lose your petrol, DPR warns Anambra marketers

    The Department of Petroleum Resources ( DPR ) has warned petrol marketers within its Enugu Zone to comply with N145 pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) or have their products dispensed to customers free.

    Mr Unyime Akpan of Health, Safety and Environment Department, DPR Enugu Office, gave the warning in Awka when he led an enforcement team to Anambra on Tuesday.

    Akpan said the team sealed one filing station for allegedly refusing to revert and enforced the pump price sale of petrol in nine other stations on Atani road in Ogbaru and some parts of Idemili North Local Government Areas.

    He expressed regret that some marketers had remained defiant, in spite of DPR’s efforts to ensure compliance, noting that the DPR might apply more stringent punishment by dispensing products of defaulting marketers to customers for free.

    READ ALSO: More pains as fuel scarcity returns

    “Petrol price is controlled; stations are not supposed to sell above N145 per liter and if the cost of getting products suggests they cannot sell at that price, then they should leave out.

    “Marketers are the people encouraging the hike; if they are not gaining from it, then they leave out until the system returns to normal.

    “We may have to begin to dispense their products free because DPR also has the powers; if this price compliance sales proves ineffective, we may be left with no option than to give out their petrol, so that they can understand how serious we are,” he said.

    In a reaction, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria ( IPMAN ) absolved its members of any complicity in the hike of petrol price and blamed it on scarcity.

    Chief Ikechukwu Nwankwo, Chairman of IPMAN, Enugu Depot, in charge of Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu states, urged DPR to stop the clampdown the members as sealing outlets and auctioning the products would not solve the problem.

    Nwankwo decried the petrol supply situation in the country and called for a more sustainable measure to normalise it.

    He said DPR’s action on IPMAN members, especially those under his zone, amounted to being punished for a problem they did not cause and could not solve.

    Nwankwo said that solution to the problem was massive and sufficient supply of petrol into the system by the NNPC.

    The IPMAN chairman said marketers were making efforts to make petrol available to customers as complete scarcity would amount to shutting the economy and holding the masses hostage.

    “I have spoken with my members here in Anambra, the situation of fuel supply is bad and it is our wish that we begin to get products like the way it used to be before.

    “IPMAN is not happy with the way the DPR is harassing us, closing our stations and auctioning our products. It is like they want to push us out of business because we cannot continue to suffer this loss.

    “NNPC is not allocating products to us, DPR should go and monitor the marketers that get allocation from NNPC; how can we buy product at N190 or N195 and DPR sells them off at N145.

    “We make extra effort to get product at tank depot so that economic activities can go on and we should not be punished for that; we may have to close our stations if they continue to pursue us,” he said.

    Newsmen reportes that pump price of petrol has dropped from between N240 and N250 to N200 per liter.

    NAN

  • Google honours Keshi with Doodle

    Google honours Keshi with Doodle

    Google on Tuesday marked the 56th birthday of the late Nigerian football icon, Stephen Keshi, with Doodle.

    A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google’s homepages that commemorates holidays, events, achievements and people.

    Mr Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Google’s Communications and Public Affairs Manager, Anglophone West Africa, made the assertion during a chat with Google in Lagos.

    According to Kola-Ogunlade, Stephen Keshi was born in Azare, Bauchi State, Nigeria, and was a member of the famed St. Finbarrs College Football Academy of 1977.

    He said that he was later called up for the Junior Eagles and subsequently the Super Eagles in preparation for the 1980 African Cup of Nations competition.

    “Football took Keshi all over the world as he played across Africa, Europe, and the U.S.

    “Known affectionately as `Big Boss’, he was beloved as a player for Nigeria’s national team, where he earned more than 60 caps and for representing the country at the FIFA World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations,’’ he said.

    READ ALSO : Google doodle honours Chinua Achebe

    Kola-Ogunlade said that after his great success as a player, Keshi moved into coaching, the next phase of his career, adding that when the “Big Boss’’ became the coach of the Togo national team, he brought his trademark passion with him.

    The Google manager said that against the odds, Keshi led Togo all the way to a qualifying spot in the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

    “He achieved his personal dream in 2011, when he became an indigenous national coach of the Super Eagles, cementing his place in African and world football history.

    “Coaching the Nigerian team, Keshi won the African Cup of Nations in 2013, and in 2014 became the first African coach of an African nation to make it to the knockout round of a World Cup.

    “Keshi is one of the only two men to win the Africa Cup of Nations as both a player and a manager, a testament to his wit, talent, and love for the sport.

    “A big cheer for this football legend on what would have been his 56th birthday!’’ he said.

     

  • NANS appeals to FG dialogue with NASU over demands

    NANS appeals to FG dialogue with NASU over demands

    The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has appealed to the Federal Government to dialogue with the striking Non Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) in the interest of Nigerian students.

    The NANS Public Relations Officer, Mr Bestman Okereafor, made the appeal in a statement and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Enugu.

    “We are appealing that the Federal Government should look into the matter that caused the strike and resolve it, as Nigerian students bear the brunt of the hardship caused by the strike,’’ Okereafor said.

    He said that the association was displeased at the delay by the government to resolve the lingering NASU’s industrial action.

    “This is negatively affecting millions of university students currently writing their exams across the federation.

    “Our students have been in total darkness, non availability of water, scarcity of transportation, non availability of examination pass, no access to the library and documentations and records among several other things, which all fall under the purview of NASU,’’ he said.

    Read Also: NANS urges FG to pay entitlements of deceased heroes to families.

    According to him, it is unfortunate that even the Senate and House of Representatives have decided to keep mute over the issue for so long, probably because their children are in the Diaspora.

    “It is disappointing that the government has decided to take the welfare of Nigerian students with levity despite our love and loyalty to our dear country.

    “This undue suffering is unacceptable to Nigerian students, as this has drastically affected their academic performance,’’ he said.

    Okereafor, however, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to grant NANS leadership  an audience to enable the association to table the myriad problems facing Nigerian students before him “as a father’’.

    NAN recalls that NASU’s strike, which commenced on Dec. 10, 2017, had lingered for over a month now.

    NAN

  • Lassa fever: Ondo Govt. embarks on sensitisation of populace

    Lassa fever: Ondo Govt. embarks on sensitisation of populace

    The Ondo State Government has embarked on sensitisation of the populace on measures to contain the spread of Lassa fever in the state.

    A statement issued on Tuesday in Akure by the state Commissioner for Information, Mr Yemi Olowolabi, said that unhygienic habits of people had led to the spread of Lassa fever in the state

    Read Also: 10 down with suspected Lassa fever in Ondo

    The commissioner, who confirmed 24 cases of Lassa fever and five deaths in four local government areas of the state, said government had strengthened its medical facilities in all its specialist hospitals to contain the spread of the disease.

    He stated that the isolation centre at the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, had also been reinforced to take adequate care of patients as part of efforts to check  the spread of the disease.

    NAN

  • NSCDC arrests man for defiling minor in Nasarawa

    NSCDC arrests man for defiling minor in Nasarawa

    The Nasarawa State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps ( NSCDC ) on Monday arrested Haruna Abdulkadir, 30,  from Daddare, Obi Local Government Area, for allegedly defiling a 13-year old girl.

    Mohammed Mahmoud-Fari, the State Commandant of the NSCDC told newsmen in Lafia that the suspect had on Jan. 20 allegedly defiled the minor and fled the community.

    He was, however, arrested from his hideout in Daddere village on Monday following a man-hunt by security operatives.

    According to Mahmoud-Fari, when the news of the defilement broke, family and relatives of the victim went in search of the suspect and in the process, there was a free-for-all  between the two groups.

    “Friends of the suspect inflicted bodily harm on the relatives of the victim and were arrested by the NSCDC, following the report of the incident,” Mahmoud-Fari said.

    Mahmoud-Fari said the suspect who confessed to the crime during interrogation, however,  pleaded for mercy.

    He said preliminary investigation and medical observation of the victim revealed that there was penetration, saying she however, tested negative to sexually transmitted infections.

    Mahmoud-Fari said the command would ensure that justice was done by prosecuting the suspect in order to serve as a deterrent to other pedophiles.

    Meanwhile, the commandant also paraded 12 suspects arrested for various offences including theft, assault and conspiracy to purchase stolen properties.

    He said all the suspects would be arraigned appropriately as soon as investigations were concluded.

    The NSCDC boss warned those with criminal tendencies to desist from them or  be ready to face the full wrath of the law.

    NAN