Tag: The Nation newspaper

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says over 100,000 candidates who met admission requirements have so far been offered placements into Nigerian universities for the 2019/2020 academic session.

Dr Fabian Benjamin, Spokesman for JAMB, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos that the board hoped to utilise 80 to 90 per cent of the available spaces for this year’s admission.

Benjamin stated that the board’s projection for this year’s admission was to ensure that candidates utilised more available spaces unlike in 2018 where about 40 per cent of spaces were not utilised.

“We will continue to adhere to our admission deadline.

“The first choice admission for public universities commenced from Aug. 21 and would last till Nov. 16 and for private universities, it will be from Aug. 21 to Feb. 15, 2020.

“The second choice admissions for public universities will be from Nov. 17 to Dec.17,’’ he said.

READ ALSO: Lagos College celebrates outstanding success in 2019 UTME

Meanwhile the board had distanced itself from a recent advertisement placed on what it described as ‘roque website’, urging unsuspecting candidates and other concerned stakeholders to subscribe to, ahead of the 2020 UTME.

According to Benjamin, the board knows nothing about such advertisement.

“It has come to our notice that some mischievous persons are trying hard to use the name of the board to defraud innocent candidates and the general public ahead of the 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Board (UTME).

“These fraudsters are urging interested candidates or persons to forward their names and telephone numbers to the rogue website, as well as pay subscription fees to acquire past questions and answers and a copy of the literature novel ahead of the board’s 2020 UTME.

“We want to state that these are mischievous persons who are out to cause pains to the public and therefore urge candidates to disregard the information and the perpetrators of this evil in their own interest.

“JAMB operates with set standards and it is not ready to compromise such standards. We have an authentic website for all official information. Do not be deceived,’’ Benjamin warned.

(NAN)

The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has urged the five Southeast governors to take drastic measures towards providing adequate security for the people.

Chairman of the PFN in Enugu State, Bishop Goddy Madu, who addressed journalists in Enugu said the governors should not hesitate in implementing the key decisions they reached during the last meeting of the Southeast Governors’ Forum.

Madu said apart from Enugu, the remaining four States were yet to establish forest guards as agreed during the meeting.

“We have always said it that there can’t be adequate security without community policing; that is why the idea of forest guards is very laudable.

“But we observed that it is only Enugu that has gone ahead to establish one. We comment Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for taking the step and we ask the remaining governors to make haste and do the same.

“Enugu is generally peaceful and that is because of the proactive steps being taken by Gov. Ugwuanyi.”

READ ALSO: CAN kicks against RUGA settlement in Nigeria

The PFN leader equally challenged the members of the Forest Guards the neighbourhood watch group “to rise to the occasion of securing our communities, especially by properly monitoring and reporting suspicious movements.”

He, however, called on the Federal Government to provide adequate support to the governors in their quest to provide security for the people.

According to him, “we know that the Federal Government controls all the security apparatus; so, the governors are merely putting on the toga of chief security officers. What it means is that for them to achieve anything meaningful in this regard, the Federal Government must give them the needed collaboration.

“We are, therefore, calling on the Federal Government not to frustrate the efforts of these governors.”

The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has assured stakeholders that the scheme’s account remains secured, intact and beyond the possible reach of hackers and other nefarious entities as it only operates the federal government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA).

The Head of Media and Public Relations of the scheme, Ayo Osinlu, made this known on Sunday in a press statement.

According to the statement: “The discovery of fraud in the operations of one of the Health Maintenance Organisations (HMO), Clearline International Limited, leading to the arrest of two persons, one of whom is a staff of the HMO concerned, has come to the attention of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

“The seriousness of this crime, the huge sum of money involved, and the reference to NHIS’ account being hacked in the process have compelled the scheme to make the following clarifications.

“That NHIS has no account anywhere else outside the Federal Government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) in the custody of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

READ ALSO: Reps to review NHIS

“It is therefore not possible, or true, that the perpetrators of this heinous crime hacked into the account of NHIS in this act.”

“That in the spirit of the scheme’s ongoing rebranding reforms, of which transparency and accountability is a major factor, a Management Committee has been constituted the day after the ­­crime was reported, to ascertain the veracity of the allegations, the actual sum involved and the circumstances that facilitated the commission of the crime, among other terms of reference,” it added.

The NHIS reassured its stakeholders and the general public that it will not tolerate any breach of trust or guidelines under its operations.

The Benin Solidarity Movement has said there is nothing like ‘Edo-Ijaw’ in Edo State as being used by some unknown militant groups in Edo State.

It said if such term like Edo-Ijaw were accepted, then terms like “Edo Igbo”, “Bayelsa Yoruba”, “Bayelsa Calabar”, “Edo Hausa”, “Edo Europeans” and even “Bayelsa Tivs” would be used across the country.

The group was reacting to comments by the Ijaw Peoples Development Initiative(IPDI) calling on the Niger Delta Forum (NDF) to halt planned attack on Governor Godwin Obaseki.

National Coordinator of the BSM, Mr. Curtis Ugbo, in a press statement said the IPDI statement was despicable and an affront on Edo people, Governor Obaseki and the revered Benin monarch, His Royal Majesty, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare 11.

Ugbo said it was a sad tale for the IPDI to call on Governor Obaseki “to act fast by implementing the demands made by the NDF”

He stated that it was absurd for the Ijaws residing in the state to claim they produce oil resources on Edo soil

According to him, “For IPDI to plead with the Ijaw militants to “dry up their gunpowder” is a way of making them feel important but we wish to state categorically for the umpteenth time that they do not have monopoly of violence.

READ ALSO: Will Edo APC survive Oshiomhole, Obaseki’s feud?

“EDSOPADEC is an agency established to cater for the needs of oil producing communities in Edo State. For IPDI, NDF and their sponsors to seek to have a say in its affairs is like Benin Solidarity Movement or Arewa Consultative Forum insisting on their members being appointed on the board of the DESOPADEC.

“The IPDI, NDF and their sponsors/supporters should henceforth cease their ill-bred mannerism of challenging the authority of the Benin monarch. They should extend the kind of reverence they accord Ijaw monarchs to the Benin monarchy.

“If the above instruction is not adhered to by the IPDI, NDF and their cohorts the consequences on them would be better imagined.

“Our hospitality should not be misconstrued as an act of cowardice. We hold the ace.”

The Lagos State government has said it would sanction manufacturers and service providers caught dealing in expired products across the state.

The General Manager, Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency (LASCOPA), Mrs. Kemi Olugbode, said that the era where rights of consumers are trampled upon with impunity by manufacturers and service providers without appropriate sanctioning or fines were over, noting that the state Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu has put effective machineries in place to ensure appropriate redress and compensation for consumers through LASCOPA.

Olugbode said this at the weekend during the mediation meeting with officials from Mophet Pharmaceutical Company, Victoria Island, by the state government over issue of altered expiry date on glisterine and sensodine mouth-wash products.

She assured consumers that the Agency is ready and determined to protect their rights, irrespective of state of origin, over any infringement and infraction from any manufacturer or service provider.

She noted that the State Consumer Protection Law of 2014 duly empowers the Agency to wade into any consumer case reported from any sector of the economy, adding that the state government is ready to champion the welfare of consumers through the assurance of justice and equity whenever their rights are trampled upon by unscrupulous manufacturers and service providers.

She warned manufacturers to desist from tactical alteration of expiry date on products to deceive wholesalers and retailers, adding that the Agency is expected to have offices in all the 52 Local Government Councils as well as Council Development Areas in the state, for effective performance and service delivery on behalf of the consumers, in accordance with the law.

READ ALSO: Court orders freezing of Lagos govt accounts over alleged N9.9b fraud

According to her, over 500 cases have been handled by the Agency on behalf of consumers since its establishment in February 2018, through mediation, negotiation and prosecution where mediation fails at the Consumer Protection Court as well as Small Claims Court, established by government in 2019 to try erring service provider and manufacturers.

She advised consumers not to take laws into their hands but rather visit the Agency online or come to the Agency’s office along Allen, in Ikeja to seek redress.

She reminded manufacturers and service providers on the right way to treat consumers saying; “Government regards consumers as kings and must be treated as such, through quality and satisfactory services”. She said that the Agency always embark on constant and sustained consumers education, monitoring and enforcement, scientific and investigative research into products and items complained about using the labouratories of collaborating State and Federal Agencies including Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO) and the Nigerian Institute of Oceanography on Marine Research (NIOMR) on behalf of consumers.

Abuja, Sept. 29, 2019 (NAN) Ismaila Surajo, who is fabricating mini tractors and other farming tools, has appealed to the Federal Government for support to enable him deepen his knowledge for higher output.

The 23-year-old indigene of Rubochi in Kuje Area Council of the FCT, said he needed support to deepen his knowledge in engineering.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the young ‘engineer’ made the appeal at the ongoing 2019 Abuja International Trade Fair where he showcased his Made-in-Nigeria tractor, excavator, truck, train among others.

According to Surajo, it took him two years to manufacture the tractor which can be used to convey farm produce.

“I started manufacturing different things since 2005 while I was in primary school, using condemned cartons, then aluminum and iron which I sourced locally from scrap vendors – Babanbola.

” I also refurbished second hand engines obtained from motorcycles to construct the tractor which you can start manually or by dialing its number on a mobile phone wherever you are for security reasons,” he said.

Appealing for government intervention for him to achieve his aspirations, Surajo said he has been fabricating farm implements and other items without any form of intervention from any government agency.

He added that he was encouraged by the enthusiasm and support of commercial motorcyclists who contributed money for him when he first displayed the initial toy equipment he built.

Surajo expressed the hope that the Abuja international trade fair would bring him to limelight for his talent to be harnessed for national growth.

Speaking with NAN, Mr Nathan Pawa, Director, Technology Business Department, Nigeria Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) said Surajo could use the agency’s platform to put his knowledge to practice.

Pawa however said that what Surajo required now was to further his education.

“It clearly shows that the boy is intelligent, that is the kind of call for youths who we have in the country with knowledge and talent even without western education. It signifies that young people who have skills exist everywhere in the country, it signifies that his future is bright.

“Firstly he needs exposure and education to understand the basis of what he is doing.

“Secondly he has to further his education and be trained to be able to imbibe what he learnt in school and apply it to what he is doing.

READ ALSO: Sterling Bank commits N50m to tractor funding

“He has succeeded in putting together what is affordable within his environment, when such talents are discovered you now take them in and expose them with education, infrastructure and facilities to use with application of his knowledge.

“The agency is focused on promoting raw talent and made-in-Nigeria products; at this age, the young manufacturer could not be employed rather needed volunteers or intervention to sponsor his education.

“While in school, the young man could as well be using the agency’s infrastructural platform to put his knowledge into practice.

“Some of those things are toys, there is difference from toys and actual things. He was able to take A and put together with B and C to manufacture a product. He has the skill.

“Our responsibility as an agency is to provide facility for him to be able to produce A by himself, produce B and C by himself, then bring them together.

“We have 10 development institutes across the country, each of the institute has a mandate and equipped with machines that could enable him to do design and produce different products.”

The director encouraged Nigerians to be patriotic by patronising local products so as to grow the economy.

(NAN)