Tag: Nigerian news

Osun State Governor Adegboyega Oyetola has hailed the Federal Government for supporting the state and for approving the establishment of a zonal fire service headquarters in the state.

The governor singled out President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, for commendation, saying the gesture would further complement the efforts of the state towards preventing and combating natural disasters.

He advocated the need for the people to always apply preventive measures and cultivate the habit that would enhance safety and strengthen the security of lives and property.

Governor Oyetola spoke on Wednesday when he received the Controller-General of the Federal Fire Service, Dr. Liman Ibrahim and his entourage who were in the state to inaugurate state-of-the-art fire-fighting trucks donated by the Federal Government.

Oyetola, who reiterated his administration’s commitment to ensuring safety and security of lives and property, said the government would promote enlightenment programmes that could help to expose the public to precautionary measures against natural disasters.

Read Also: Oyetola seeks France’s support on vocational education

“First of all, I must thank President Buhari for the wonderful support for the state. I equally commend the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, for finding it necessary to support the state in this regard.

“You will recall that about a month ago, we inaugurated 11 fire service stations across the state alongside the fire- fighting trucks that we rehabilitated as part of efforts to prevent and combat inferno.

“This is to boost swift response system to any form of distress, particularly when there is fire outbreak.

“Our administration has demonstrated high commitment to the welfare of our people, as we have been alive to our constitutional responsibilities, particularly on their security and welfare.

“Our administration understands the need to ensure the protection of lives and property of the citizens, which is why we are doing everything possible to ensure safety at all cost,” the governor said.

Dr. Ibrahim lauded the state government for being committed to the security and welfare of the people.

He said the agency was aware of the state’s commitment to strengthen the capacity of the agency for efficient and effective service delivery.

The Fire Service boss disclosed that the Federal Government had through the Ministry of Interior, approved the establishment of a Federal Fire Service zonal headquarters in Osogbo.

He said the newly-procured fire-fighting trucks were donated in confirmation of the take-off of the new zone.

Ibrahim said approval had been given for the relocation of the Federal Fire Service Training School for the Southwest presently in Lagos to Osun State, noting that the relocation became necessary due to the recent affiliation of the National Fire Academy, Sheda, to the Nigeria Defence Academy, Kaduna for the purpose of running a post graduate programme in disaster management.

Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has reaffirmed the decision of his administration to prosecute any official found involved in corruption.

This is in line with his resolve to ensure accountability in public service.

He spoke yesterday at the Government House, Makurdi while swearing in the chairman and commissioners of Local Government Service Commission, as well as a member of the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission (BSIEC).

The governor, who also inaugurated the Benue State Planning Commission, with him as the chairman and his deputy, Benson Abounu, as alternate chairman, urged the appointees to be transparent.

Read Also: Ortom: I’m on course

He stressed that only transparency could make public officials free from prosecution when they leave office,

cautioning public officials who indulge in sharp practices to desist or face the consequences.

Responding on behalf of the Local Government Service Commission, the Chairman, Dr. Bem Melladu, thanked the governor for the responsibility given them and promised that they would work hard to justify the confidence reposed in them.

Terkaa Mamwoo, Ochekliye Adugba, Nyigba Godwin and Dr. Tsetim Ayargwer were sworn in as commissioners of the commission, while Mr. Sunday Agbaji took oath as a member of BSIEC.

The petitioners and respondents in the legal tussle over the 2019 governorship election in Kano State on Wednesday adopted their final defence at the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal presided over by Justice Halima Shamaki.

Abba Kabiru Yusuf (first petitioner), alongside Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)(second petitioner) had  dragged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) (first respondent), Abdullahi Umar Ganduje (second respondent) and All Progressives Congress (APC)(third respondent) to the tribunal challenging the  declaration of Ganduje as the winner of the Kano State governorship election.

The respondents urged the court to dismiss the pleadings made by the petitioners, saying they have failed to discharge the burden on proof.

The respondents told the court that the exhibits tendered from the bar by the petitioners were not Certified True Copies (CTCs). They prayed the tribunal to dismiss the petition.

Read Also: Mixed reactions trail tribunal judgments in C’River

Counsel to the first respondent (INEC) Ahmed Raji (SAN) told the tribunal that the issues raised by the petitioners were bankrupt in merit. He argued that the petition lacked the fertility of life.

He said Kabiru failed to produce direct evidence to substantiate his claims that INEC wrongfully declared his opponent, Ganduje, as the winner of the poll, arguing that the electoral act is strict on the petitioners appealing to the tribunal to on this ground dismiss the petition.

Ganduje, responding to the petition filed against his victory, said the petitioner failed to produce result that was contrary to that which was declared by INEC.

Ganduje, through his counsel, Offiong Offiong (SAN), submitted that Kabiru invoked presumptions in an attempt to prove to the court that he was duly elected as governor, praying the court to dismiss the claims made by the petitioners.

The third respondent, APC, told the tribunal that the petitioners in their claims made an unlawful translation of the provisions of the law.

The respondent, through its counsel, Alex Iziyon (SAN), said the petitioners failed to tender voters’ register that indicated the number of voters, who voted and the number of votes scored, to substantiate their claim as winners of the election.

According to him, INEC possesses the inherent jurisdiction to cancel elections and proceed to order for a rerun, arguing that on March 9 INEC acted rightly by declaring the Kano State governorship election as inconclusive.

Iziyon (SAN) further argued that the petitioners in their claims to election victory acted in contrast to the provisions of the law by presenting pink copies result sheets, explaining that jurisprudence has transited from submission of pink copies to another stage. On this ground he prayed the court to dismiss the petition and uphold the emergence of APC and its candidate, Ganduje, as winner of the election.

Responding to the submissions made by the respondent, counsel to the petitioners, Kanu Agabi (SAN), urged the court to ignore the response from the respondents on the issues raised.

He said on March 9, elections were held and results were announced, adding that Yusuf of the PDP scored the highest number of votes. “Unfortunately INEC refused to declare PDP as the winner of that election.”

Agabi argued that the rerun election held on March 23 was null and void, stressing that therefore the results from the rerun, which declared Ganduje as duly elected governor, was null and void. That the court should declare the results of March 9 as the valid results and return PDP and its candidate Yusuf as the winner of the election, urging the tribunal to so hold.

Justice Shamaki said the tribunal would communicate to the parties the date the final judgment would be delivered

The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Minna, Niger State has upheld the election of Governor Abubakar Bello.

It dismissed the petition of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Alhaji Umar Nasko, declaring that it lacked merit and failed in its entirety.

The hearing lasted for about five hours during which the tribunal delivered its rulings on all motions and preliminary objections before delivering judgment on the merit of the petition.

On the allegation of the petitioners that the election was marred by intimidation, violence, vote-buying, among others, the tribunal said they were bereft of pieces of evidence and were bound to fail.

On the allegation of forgery and falsification of documents against Governor Bello, the tribunal held that the allegation could not be proved, as the petitioner could not produce the Registrar of the National Examinations Council (NECO) to authenticate the result.

Read Also: Tribunal judgment: No grudge against anyone, says Bello

After striking out the allegation of forgery and falsification of documents, the tribunal went on to determine whether the petitioner discharged the onus of proof to show that the respondent did not score the majority of lawful votes cast.

On this, the tribunal held that the petitioners failed to prove that the respondent did not score the majority of lawful votes cast.

On the allegation of vote-buying, corrupt practices,  use of state power, intimidation of voters, misuse of security agents to influence the outcome of the election of March 9, 2019, the tribunal held that the petitioners failed to establish the allegations, as no cogent and credible evidence were adduced to substantiate the allegations beyond reasonable doubt.

The tribunal also held that nowhere during the length and breadth of the trial did the sole witness of the petitioners, PW1, Mr. Tanko Beji, gave evidence in respect of the allegation of non-compliance.

Counsel to Nasko, Idris Ndayako, said they are not satisfied with the judgment, adding that they will meet to decide what to do.

Bello’s and All Progressives Congress’ (APC’s) lawyer Jibrin Samuel Okutepa said they were satisfied with the judgment, as the tribunal proved it was objective.

He said they knew from the onset that the accusations and claims were false and baseless.

Okutepa said the judgment was based on facts and the pieces of evidence on ground.

Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi has said the frequency with which Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike churns out quality projects justifies his world acclaimed title: ‘Mr. Project’.

A statement by Wike’s media aide, Simeon Nwakaudu, said Fayemi spoke yesterday at the opening of the Rumuwoji International Market in Port Harcourt. Fayemi praised Wike for his outstanding performance.

He said: “We are proud of Governor Wike; we are proud of the work he is doing in Rivers State. He will continue to inaugurate projects till September 27, which is almost 10 days from now.

“Even if it is one project per day, it will be almost 10 days. Now I understand why they refer to him as Mr. Project.”

Read Also: Fayemi: no Mosque demolished in Rivers 

Governor Fayemi, who noted that governance was about improving the people’s standard of living, said Wike had worked hard for Rivers people.

“The promise that the governor made is what he is fulfilling today. That is what governance is all about; it is about affecting the lives of our people. Governance is about improving the quality and condition of our society; it is about ensuring that we fulfil promises that we make to the people,” he added.

Wike said opening the Rumuwoji Market is a fulfilment of his pledge to rebuild it.

“I made a promise to build this market; we started from the foundation to its completion. When we make promises, we are bound to fulfil them. Hold us accountable to our promises because there is no need for excuses. We made a promise and we have fulfilled that promise,” he added.

The governor reiterated that the government had finished paying for the project. He also raised a management committee to ensure the market serves the people.

Presiding Bishop of Living Faith Church International, Bishop David Oyedepo, on Wednesday said a paradigm shift to agricultural mechanisation is the solution to joblessness and unemployment in Nigeria.

Oyedepo spoke during the 40th annual general meeting (AGM) of Nigerian Institution of Agricultural Engineers (NIAE) hosted by Landmark University at Omu-Aran in Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State.

The popular cleric noted that aside agriculture, no vocation or institution could accommodate millions of unemployed Nigerians.

He said: “This university (Landmark) has a vision to restore agrarian revolution in Africa and the dignity of the African man. We are endowed with fertile land but have over 400 million hungry graduates looking for job opportunities that do not exist.

“The cheapest way to be gainfully engaged is via agriculture. It can’t go into extinction because man must eat to live. There is no day that food will be irrelevant. It is, therefore, wise and safe now to tackle the impending day of poverty and hunger through mechanised farming.”

Read Also: ‘Lack of incentives driving youths away from agriculture’

The AGM, which doubled as the association’s 20th international conference, had the theme: Innovations and Technologies for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanisation and Livestock Transformation for Economic Growth.

It was attended by participants from within and outside the country.

Keynote Speaker Prof Michael Ngadi said agricultural engineers of this century played a key role in bringing food to the table.

The international expert in food quality and safety with specialisation in heat and mass transfer processes in foods, hyperspectral imaging, sensors and properties of foods decried the high rate of human population across the world.

Putting the global population at about 7.7 billion, he said this has a tendency to grow into 10 billion in a few years.

Ngadi said unless the food capacity is boosted via agricultural mechanisation, man would suffer from famine and quality health conditions.

The international expert dismissed Nigeria’s current population growth as the likely cause of unemployment and poverty.

He said the population of all African nations was equal to the population of China, which has one of the finest Gross Domestic Products (GDPs) due to innovations in agricultural mechanisation.

“We have a problem with demographic and climatic change, flooding and erosion. Besides, 80 per cent of our produce, especially tomatoes, is getting wasted because of poor preservation system. In fact, it is a known fact that at present, Nigeria has the highest rate of food wastages in the world.

“The recent ban of rice importation in Nigeria is good but it must be matched with needed local production. Otherwise, we will suffer greatly for food in this country. We should also note that we will not feed the increasing population with knives and hoes of the Stone Age Technology,” Ngadi said.

The expert urged Nigerian agricultural engineers to design and develop more equipment for local food production and processing.

He called for an atmosphere that would be conducive for modern agricultural practices to thrive and veritable governmental policies for a private sector-driven food production system.

Ngadi said Nigeria should upscale its food production, processes and practices.

The international expert added that “a pull and a push” approach should be embarked upon in the nation’s food innovation strategies.

“There is a connection between innovation and the GDP of any nation. Therefore, in Nigeria, it is either we innovate now or die of hunger later. We need improved technologies in tillage facilities and maximise the irrigation practices. We must produce affordable technologies to link farmers with processors and consumers. This has been successfully done by Hondurans.”

Ngadi, who said unlike agricultural principles, which are transferable, innovations are peculiar with the innovators.

He added that Nigeria, with its largest cashew production capacity in the world, could build strong agricultural technologies around the fruit and its seed.