The Nation Newspaper

Tag: no plan

  • No plan to disrupt Abiodun’s inauguration, says Ogun

    The government of Ogun State was battling yesterday to fend off allegations that it was planning to obstruct the May 29 inauguration of the Dapo Abiodun administration.

    There were photographs on the social media showing that the entrance to the June 12 Cultural Centre was being blocked to prevent people from attending the pre – inaugural activities of the Governor – elect.

    The government said in the last few days, contractors had been working to tidy up the Kuto Round about – June 12 Cultural Centre – MKO Abiola stadium corridor of the township road,  to make room for a  more comfortable motoring experience for members of the public ahead of  the expected President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to the state on Saturday.

    The government, in a statement by Rotimi Durojaiye, Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, said the  road work was to make attendance at the inauguration programme of Abiodun more convenient.

    It issued the release on the heels of an avalanche of allegations and innuendoes on the social media space and other platforms by people it described as mischief makers and political jobbers who alleged that Governor Ibikunle Amosun led government had deliberately blocked access roads to the venue of pre – inauguration activities.

    The Nation visited the site and observed that the entrances to the pre – inauguration activities were free and motorists used the said entrances to navigate their way in and out of the area.

    The government warned the public to be wary of such “mischief makers”, saying the allegations  alluded to are figments of their imagination as the on-going construction works between NNPC and Kuto Roundabout started over a year ago.

    “The attention of the Ogun State Government has been drawn to several unfounded allegations and innuendos trending in the public space with regard to the upcoming inauguration of the new Administration.

    “Two of such unsavoury allegations are worthy of mention here. The first was that Government deliberately blocked the road and approach leading to the June 12 Cultural Centre venue of pre-Inauguration activities.

    “The second, rather more reckless, was the story credited to the Police Public Relations Officer, Ogun State Command, that the Police had uncovered a phantom ploy to disrupt the upcoming inauguration activities. We will hope that the PPRO was misquoted.

    “Suffice to say that our Administration has earned a reputation for not engaging in needless media war, particularly puerile allegations and innuendoes from political jobbers and mischief makers with purpose to serve.

    “Our disposition therefore remains to maintain stoic and dignified silence, even in the face of criminal untruths and unfair provocation as we are confident that posterity and chroniclers of history will properly situate our respective roles.

    “Having said that, we say emphatically that the allegations alluded to above are figments of the imagination of the mischief makers. The on-going construction works between NNPC and Kuto Roundabout started over a year ago.

    “Ironically, what the contractors are doing in the past few days is to tidy up that axis to ensure more comfortable motoring experience for members of the public who will receive President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday and, by implication, to make attendance at the inauguration programme more convenient.

    “That lofty objective was achieved and today the pre-inauguration programme of the incoming Administration is the earliest beneficiary of that thoughtful intervention.

    “As for the phantom disruption tale, we have engaged the Police authorities to stress the real danger in dishing out manifestly untrue, unproven and de-marketing statements to the public.

    “We have received assurances that no one will become a tool in the hands of the Fifth Columnists who do not wish Ogun State well.

    “We assure all stakeholders that we shall do all within our power and resources to keep the hard earned peace in this blessed State. As the sitting Administration, we intend to sustain the appropriate environment for the new Administration to take off orderly.”

     

  • Govt : no plan to hike roadworthiness fee

    The Directorate of Lagos Vehicle Inspection Service (VIS) has allayed motorists’ fears over a hike in roadworthiness certificate (RWC) fee.

    In a statement yesterday, VIS Director Abdul-Hafeez Gbolahan Toriola said such fears were unfounded, saying the government would ensure that motorists processed RWC easily.

    Toriola urged motorists not to process their RWC through touts, but to visit any of the 45 VIS offices or the 10 Lagos Computerised Vehicle Inspection Service (LACVIS) centres.

    He advised those, who processed their RWC at VIS zonal offices without a computerised centre, to visit any LACVIS centre with their referral note for a free computerised inspection.

    After the inspection, they would be issued a report, Toriola said.

    The computerised inspection, he said, would prevent people from buying imported vehicles with mechanical faults, which are usually hidden by unscrupulous sellers.

    According to him, a valid safety check is required before a vehicle can be registered.

    “These tests, which include automobile vehicle inspection number (Autovin), are carried out at the LACVIS centres to know the history of the vehicles and the modifications and alterations done on them, if any,” Toriola said.

  • I’ve no plan to step down for Buhari, Atiku, says Olawepo-Hashim

    PEOPLE’S Trust (PT) presidential candidate Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim has debunked that he has plan to step down for either the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari or People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) flagbearer Atiku Abubakar.

    He was confident that the two candidates are beatable with their parties’ alleged woeful performances since 1999.

    According to a statement through his media team signed by Hassan Ibrahim, the Presidential hopeful spoke during campaign in Akure, the Ondo State capital, to solicit votes of the people.

    He urged Nigerians to support his candidacy for rapid economic growth that will lift the masses out of abject poverty.

    He said 70% of Nigerians voters are yet to decide who to vote for among the presidential candidates less than 11 days to the 2019 election.

    Olawepo-Hashim advised the electorates to reject the two political parties that had failed them and the country in the last 20 years.

    The presidential candidate, who was accompanied by his Campaign Director-General and former Transport Minister, Mr. Habu Fari, said the country was too endowed with natural resources for the citizenry to be wallowing in poverty and vowed to introduce policies that would end insecurity and economic hardship, if elected the president.

    He advised eligible voters to secure their future by voting for his People’s Trust party in 2019 election.

    Olawepo-Hashim assured Nigerians, especially youths and graduates that he would create jobs and make the environment conducive for businesses to flourish.

    The presidential candidate said his party was fine-tuning its strategy in all states of the federation on how to wrestle power from the ruling APC, adding that PT had the highest number of representation in constituency nominations.

    Olawepo-Hashim said: “Some few days to election, more than 70 per cent of the electorates are still wondering, who they are going to vote for. They have been examining the candidates they are going to vote for and what these candidates promised to offer and among all the alternative parties, the PT is the biggest. But I can tell you that this election is still very open, even though its 10 days to the election.

    Fari, in his remark, expressed delight that the people of Ondo State trooped out enmass to receive Olawepo-Hashim, indicating that the people were ready to elect the Third Force, which the PT candidate represented.

  • No plan to order Onnoghen’s arrest, says Presidency

    • Dismisses alleged plot to frame Supreme Court justices

    The Presidency yesterday  denied an alleged plan by it to order the arrest of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen.

    It also denied planning to frame three other Supreme Court justices.

    President Muhammadu Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, described the allegations as fake news.

    He said the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), which sparked the reports, was apparently trying to “set the judiciary against the executive and cause major confusion ahead of the forthcoming general elections.”

    He added: “The story is absolutely false as the Presidency is not in any way involved in plotting against or framing anybody.”

    The Presidency, he also said, would not interfere in the court case against Onnoghen.

    He said: “We note that the findings of the Code of Conduct Bureau against the Chief Justice of Nigeria, and the allegations arising from them, are being handled by the courts in the normal way, as is expected in a democratic society like ours. The Presidency has not, and will certainly not, interfere in the process.

    “We, however, want to draw the attention of the general public to this or similar false stories, which are ill motivated to further the political interests of their sponsors.

    “While the Buhari administration is very firmly committed to the fight against corruption, we want to assure the general public that government will always pursue its mission with the highest standards of fairness, and in strict conformity with the relevant laws.”

  • Abe says he has no plan to dump APC

    •Claims to be preferred choice for Rivers governorship race

    Senator Magnus Abe (Rivers Southeast ) yesterday dismissed speculations that he had left the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    He said   not only does he remain an APC member; he is also the preferred choice ahead of the 2019 governorship election in Rivers State.

    Abe, a governorship aspirant on APC platform, and his faction of the party lost out in the recently concluded nomination of candidates for next year’s elections.

    An online report yesterday said he had dumped the APC.

    However, his spokesman, Parry Benson, denied the report, and branded it a pedestrian move to derail the conversation about the preferred choice of the Senator as the governorship candidate of the APC in Rivers State.

    Benson said, “We know that such calculated misinformation in the public domain is coming from the usual quarters to confuse Senator Abe’s supporters, who have remained firm, resolute and insisted on justice, equity, and fair play in Rivers APC.”

    The spokesperson also urged the senator’s teeming supporters and other lovers of democracy to ignore the fake news

    Abe was quoted by Benson as saying: “I am the frontline choice of Rivers APC for 2019 election. That is why so much efforts, resources and energy have been expended on a futile mission to obliterate that reality.

    “The sponsored campaign of hate and calumny is part of the efforts and like every pack of lies; it will collapse in the fullness of time. The report that I, Senator Magnus Abe, have dumped the APC for the PDP is another of such endless and wicked campaigns against me. I remain a member of the APC. I remain committed to the party (APC) and to President Muhammadu Buhari.

    “I have been in politics long enough to know that a smear campaign is one of the tools you deploy when your case is weak. So, from the intensity of the smear campaign, discerning political watchers will know that no real case can be made against me.

    “Just as I have said severally, let me re-emphasise that I bought form for governor, on the platform of APC in Rivers State and I am running for the office of governor.”

    However, the APC has already forwarded the name of oil tycoon, Tonye Cole, to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as its Rivers State governorship candidate.

     

     

  • No plan to sell Ajaokuta Steel Plant, says Osinbajo

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has assured that there was no plan by the Federal Government to sell the Ajaokuta Steel Complex.

    Kogi State Governor, Yahaha Bello, disclosed this to State House correspondents after meeting with the Vice President yesterday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Bello revealed that Osinbajo, being the Chairman of the National Economic Council, debunked the rumour making the rounds over the purported sale of Ajaokuta Steel Complex .

    “He said there is no plan by the Federal Government to sell Ajaokuta Steel Company. The VP said Ajaokuta is an asset of the Federal Government and that they are looking into how best to make good use of the facility for the benefit of Nigerians as a whole.

    He said his delegation visited the VP so as to notify him of the coronation of the new Oba of Kabba tomorrow and to seek his blessings

    On the preparation for 2019 general elections he said, every primary can be rancorous and everybody can hustle for one ticket or the other. I can assure you that we have a capable leadership of the party in President Muhammadu Buhari.

    “Also, we have our able chairman, Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomole who is doing his best to ensure that the party is strong and the party is really very strong.

    “As for the general elections, in Kogi State, we are one hundred percent ready and we are going to sweep all the state and by the grace of God, we shall bring out a vote that has never been witnessed in the North Central by the Grace of God. I can assure you as well that the 2019 elections for Mr President, it’s going to be a walk over by the grace of God.” he stated

     

  • No plan to hike tuition fees in varsities, says ministry

    The Federal Ministry of Education on Wednesday debunked the news trending on social media that the Federal Government had approved the hike in tuition fees of Nigerian universities to N350,000.

    Mr Sonny Echono, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry made the clarification at a symposium in Abuja.

    Echono, who said the Federal Government was not planning to increase the tuition fees, urged Nigerians to remain calm on the issue.

    The symposium has its theme: “The Right to Education means the Right to a Qualified Teacher’’.

    “The Federal Government did not and has no intention of introducing new tuition fees in our public universities not to mention the figure to N350, 000.

    “What is true is that the present administration is committed to guarantee quality of education.

    “President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the ministry of education along with the ministry of finance to jointly organise a workshop that will inform on a very sustainable and workable recommendation of funding education in Nigeria.

    “And to this end, we have been engaging various stakeholders including ASUU who can come up with a very useful contribution that will bring all these recommendations achievable.

    Echono added that the ministry was working toward re-establishing the education bank to address the role of education funding as the government cannot do it alone.

    He said the role of the education bank would be to give loan at a low interest rate, saying this would not be limited to students alone but also parents.

    On the right to education, Echono said every child has the fundamental right to quality education, adding that the ministry had developed strategies to ensure pupils and students with special needs were carried along.

    Echono said that the National Teachers Institute (NTI) had also concluded plans to train and develop the capacity of primary and secondary school teachers in the 36 states and FCT.

    He said that the right to education was sine qua non to national development, saying the Ministerial Strategic Plan (2016 to 2019) had been designed to guarantee expanded access to all levels of education.

    Echono said that the plan was geared toward providing adequately the necessary infrastructure and facilities to ensure that the right to the basic level and standards were maintained.

    He, therefore, called on teachers to upgrade themselves as effective from January 2020, any teacher who did not present the prerequisite qualifications would be pushed out of the system.

    Echono urged the teachers to take advantage of the professional examinations made available in 35 states and online resource materials to guide them as a teacher.

    He, however, called on states governments owing teachers’ salaries to take a step in ensuring that teachers were paid as when due and as well motivate teachers adequately for optimal performance.

    Earlier, Mrs Justina Ibe, the Director, Education Support Service of the ministry, said the Federal Government had not relented in its efforts to ensure that the teaching profession was provided with qualified personnel.

    Ibe said that this informed the Ministerial Strategic Plan which were now being implemented gradually with positive results.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the symposium was part of activities to commemorate the World Teachers Day to hold on Oct. 5, to celebrate the contributions of teachers to nation building.

  • PDP has no plan to change name, says Lamido

    A presidential aspirant in Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Sule Lamido, has said the party has no plan to change its name.

    He said PDP was not a chameleon that would change its name to suit the desire of those who wanted to join it.

    Speaking in Minna while addressing the proposed delegates to next month’s national convention of the party, Lamido said anyone not satisfied with the party’s name could leave.

    There has been agitation for a change of name and logo by the parties in the coalition, which teamed up with the PDP to wrest power from the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Lamido said: “PDP remains the only party with well-defined ideology. Between 1999 and now, other parties have changed their names in the quest to wrest power from the PDP. Of the parties, only the PDP has retained its name.”

    He said the destruction caused by the APC government had set the country back by 10 years, adding that security situation across the country had degenerated.

    The former Jigawa State governor said APC was in panic because the brains in the party had defected to PDP and they no longer had the capacity to convince Nigerians.

    “Defection occurs when there is injustice and impunity. Impunity and injustice made people to leave PDP then. Those who left are now coming back. When they left us, we were able to manage it, we were able to conduct ourselves in a very dignified way because we are leaders.

    “What goes round comes round. It is now time for the APC to experience same and they are panicking because they have no capacity. When we faced same in 2014, we were very cool, calm and collected and were able to cheer the party despite our losses.

    “The APC are panicking because those defecting are the brains behind the party. They are finished that is why they are panicking,” he said.

    Speaking on the PDP loss in the by-elections in Bauchi, Katsina and Kogi states last week, Lamido said the loss was not PDP’s loss, but Nigeria’s loss.

    “It is Nigeria that lost because of the impunity, injustice and corruption that pervaded the election.”

  • I have no plan to leave APC -Ortom

    Governor Samuel Ortom has denied media reports that he plans to defect back to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    There has been rumour that he had concluded plans to leave the APC to pursue his second term governorship ambition on the platform of another party.

    But speaking to newsmen in the Government House, Makurdi, Ortom denied the media report, saying the dissolution of his cabinet is a continuous exercise to inject fresh people with new ideas.

    He added that the rumour that the exercise was targeted at particular persons was unfounded since even his closest aides have been removed from office.

    In a related development, the coordinator of “I stand with Ortom” group, Comrade Dan Nyikwagh, has commended Ortom for partially reshuffling his cabinet. He advised the governor to inject competent hands to help drive his vision for the development of Benue State.

  • No plan to dump APC, says Ortom

    •‘Benue killings started before Buhari govt’

    I have no plan to defect from the All Progressives Congress (APC) Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom said yesterday.

    He said killings in Benue State started before the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

    He said seeking for justice over the invasion, killing and wanton destruction of property by herdsmen militia is what any good leader ought to do.

    He said he was more concerned with how to tackle the humanitarian crisis with nearly 500,000 displaced persons as a result of the invasion of communities and killing of defenceless people by armed men.

    He also clarified that he had not fallen out of favour with the leader of APC in the state, Senator George Akume.

    Ortom, in astatement through his Chief Press Secretary Terver Akase, Ortom said: “We read a report in a national daily of today which named Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom as one of the All Progressives Congress, APC leaders planning to defect to another political party.

    “The report which is obviously sponsored is not only false but also misleading. Governor Ortom has no intention to leave APC for another party and has not consulted anyone on the matter.

    “The governor enjoys a cordial working relationship with other leaders of the party both at the local, state and national levels and is focused on delivering greater benefits of democracy to his people including tackling the security challenges confronting them and there is no cause to warrant his defection to another party.

    “Governor Ortom’s stand of seeking for justice over the invasion, killing and wanton destruction of property by herdsmen militia is what any good leader ought to do.

    “The governor has already conveyed the appreciation of the State Government to President Muhammadu Buhari for deploying more troops and other security operatives to Benue to end the killings.”

    The governor insisted that the killings in the state predate the APC as a party and the administration of President Buhari.

    The statement added: “It must be noted that the killings predate the APC as a party and the present administration. The governor’s focus is on solving the problem in collaboration with other stakeholders.

    “He wants to see the end of the killings but this can only be done with the support of the Federal Government. Fortunately, the administration of President Buhari has responded positively by sending troops and other security operatives to chase away the armed militia from Benue communities.

    “We view the speculation as the handiwork of detractors who want to take undue advantage of the unfortunate security situation in Benue State and play politics with the blood of the people.”

    Ortom debunked insinuations that he had fallen out of favour with Sen. Akume.