Author: Isah Mukhtar

NAN-H-32

Holiday

Lokoja, Aug. 20, 2017 ( NAN) Kogi State government has declared Aug. 21 as a public holiday for citizens to thank God for safely returning President Muhammadu Buhari to the country.

The Director -General, media and publicity to the state governor, Mr Kingsley Fanwo,  said it was to enable the people to give thanks to God for returning  Buhari in sound health and sound mind.

He said that decision was also in line with the support the people of the state had been giving to Buhari in his efforts at correcting the ills of the past and putting the nation on sound economic footing.

“ We urge Kogites to also use the occasion of the public holiday to pray for Mr. President as he resumes his responsibilities of repositioning Nigeria, “ the statement said.

The statement quoted the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello as thanking the people for for standing by the President while undergoing treatment in London and for trooping to Abuja to welcome the him. (NAN)
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NAN-AE-3
Investment
By Kudirat Ogunyemi
Abuja, Aug. 18, 2017 (NAN) The African Young Farmers Association (AYFA) has called on foreign companies and multinationals to invest in the country’s agricultural sector so as to boost food production.

Mr Bakare Oladimeji, the President of the association, made the call in interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday.

He said that the Federal Government needed serious international and multinational interventions to boost the immense agricultural potential of the nation.

He appealed to all the multinational companies operating in Nigeria and other corporate organisations, to play practical roles in enhancing food and livestock production in the country.

“Unemployment is ravaging the entire nation and a hungry population is an angry population.

“Peace and peaceful coexistence are being threatened and crime rate is on the increase; we should not allow the situation to remain or deteriorate,’’ he said.

Oladimeji said that there were many opportunities which had yet to be developed in the agricultural, mining and manufacturing sectors of the economy.

He underscored the need for more investments in the provision of rural roads, agricultural equipment and storage facilities.

“The multinationals and other companies should help us to create jobs and boost our means of livelihood through agriculture in order to improve the living conditions of the populace.

“We are also calling on Nigerians in the Diaspora to exploit the numerous opportunities existing in agriculture, especially in food processing and storage of agricultural produce.

“Please come and support the ongoing efforts of the present administration to save Nigerians from hunger and create wealth as well as job opportunities,’’ he said.

Oladimeji said that the association was committed to stimulating the nation’s development through agriculture, youth development and empowerment.

“We have accepted the responsibility of charting a new course for the new generation of farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs; we will not rest on our oars until the desirable changes which Nigerians yearn for are achieved.

“AYFA is not deterred by the enormity of this national assignment.

‘‘We consider it as an opportunity to contribute a significant quota to ongoing efforts aimed at repositioning Nigeria.

“Our strength and solace will be derived from the goodwill of our people as well as the unrestricted outpouring of support from well-meaning Nigerians,’’ he said.

Oladimeji said that the association had developed some agricultural programmes with great capacities to create jobs and economically empower the youth.

“The support of the government at all levels toward the successful implementation of these programmes is essential.

“We are also calling on international donor agencies, multinational companies and corporate organisations to come and partner with us in the implementation of these programmes,’’ he said. (NAN)
ROK/MOL/OOK
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Edited by Mustapha Lamidi adn Dayo Komolafe

NAN- HG –13

Toll

Death toll from killer Kogi strange disease rises to 62

Lokoja, Aug. 18, 2017 ( NAN) The death toll from the strange disease ravaging three communities and Fulani settlements in Yagba West Local Government of Kogi State has risen to 62.

The state Commissioner for health, Dr Saka  Audu  disclosed this on Friday in Lokoja while giving an update on the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN).

Audu said that the mysterious disease had continued to kill children and adults in the affected villages unabated, saying that the disease which reared its ugly head few weeks ago was still ravaging Okuna, Okoloke, Isanlu -Asa and the adjoining Fulani settlemets.

The Commissioner had on Thursday visited the ravaged communities to obtain first hand information and assess the situation and confirmed that 50 persons had lost their lives to the strange disease.

In response to the development, Audu said that the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, had approved the immediate constitution and deployment of a team of medical experts to deal with the situation.

According to him, the medical experts include epidemiologists from the state ministry of health and medics from the state-owned health facilities.

“Earlier, samples taken from some of the victims were sent to Federal Teaching Hospital Irua, Edo State, for definitive investigation, which turned out to be negative for Lassa fever.

“On arrival at the communities, the team interacted with the locals and samples were taken from their water sources and food supply.

“It was discovered that the people affected showed common symptoms including abdominal pain, vomiting and stooling. Few of the patients, however , had Hematemesis and Hematochezia,” he explained.

According to him, those found still manifesting the disease had been transferred to Kogi State Specialist Hospital for proper management where an empirical diagnosis of food poisoning to rule out gastroenteritis was made.

He did not give the exact number of victims transferred to the hospital but said that they were responding well to treatment.

“Gov. Bello expressed deep concern over the incident and has directed that all the patients be treated freeof charge.  He also charged the ministry of health to conclude investigation within the shortest possible time to prevent further spread of the disease,” the commissioner said. ( NAN)
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NAN-AE-9
Scheme
Abuja, Aug. 17, 2016 (NAN) Mr Abdullahi Surajo, Communication Officer, Climate Change Adaptation Support Programme (CASP), says the scheme aims at improving farmers’ income, boosting food security and improving people’s livelihoods in the rural areas.

Surajo said this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja.

He said that the programme, which was launched last year, was being implemented in Borno, Jigawa, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara states within a time frame of six years.

He said that programme, which was a follow-up to the Agricultural Community Development Programmes of Katsina and Sokoto states, would improve the livelihoods of the rural populations, especially the vulnerable groups.

Surajo said that the programme was designed to be implemented in line with the extant agricultural policy, using the value chain development approach.

“We had a start-up workshop for the staff of the programme on the climate change adaptation and agribusiness programme, which was sponsored by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

“The presentation is mainly on partnership and from IFAD’s point of view, we are so much interested in scaling up the programme so as to impact on a greater number of poor people in the rural areas,’’ he said.

Surajo said that partnership, policy engagement, dialogue and knowledge sharing were the necessary elements of the scheme.

“We are working on marketing access for farmers to engage good market markers, off-takers and big processors.

“Those are the people that have the muscle to scale up the farm produce processing and in this context, we want the farmers to feel at ease to work with them to produce and supply produce,’’ he said.

NAN also reports that the programme aims at impacting on farmers’ income, promoting food security, reducing the vulnerability of smallholder farmers and providing employment. (NAN)
ROK/AO/OOK
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NAN-H-35

Projects

By Ifeoma Aka

Enugu, Aug. 18, 2017 (NAN) The  Chairman, Enugu State Universal Basic Education Board (ESUBEB), Chief Ikeje Asogwa, on Friday, said the board had decided to help any community that wished to renovate its primary schools.

Asogwa told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Friday that such a community would only need to contribute 20 per cent cost of the renovation as counterpart fund.

The board’s chairman said the initiative would run under the auspices of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) in a bid to make communities take ownership of their projects.

“The communities in collaboration with the school management committees as the major stakeholders, will now construct and renovate the schools,” Asogwa said.

He explained that the State Government had built schools for migrant farmers; as education remained one of the major programmes in the four-point agenda of Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi administration.

According to Asogwa, the essence of building schools in farm settlements is to give the children, whose parents are staying in the farms the needed access to education.

“We have established migrant schools for farmers and nomadic Fulani herdsmen with teachers and they are doing well,” he said, adding that the migrant schools had been built in all farm settlements in the state. (NAN)

IFO/AO/YEMI

NAN-H-21

Murder

Lagos, Aug. 17, 2017 (NAN) The Nigerian Union in South Africa on Thursday said that another  Nigerian, Mr Uchenna Eloh, has been killed in the Western Cape Province of that country.

Kanayo Onwumelu, Chairman, Western Cape chapter of the union, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on telephone from Cape Town that Eloh was strangled to death by South African policemen.

NAN reports that Eloh hailed from Eziagu in Eziagu Local Government Area of Enugu State.

“ We want to call the attention of Nigerian Government to the senseless killing of innocent Nigerians by the police in South Africa.

“At about 11.00 a.m. South African time on Wednesday, a Nigerian, Uchenna Emmanuel Eloh, popularly known as “Monkey’’, was killed by a South African police officer.

“He was walking out of his house toward the bus station when a police van stopped to search him, suspecting that he might be in possession of illegal substance.

“Three policemen accosted Eloh, one of them, by the name Williams, held him on the neck suspecting that he swallowed a substance, while another police officer held him by the legs,’’ he said.

The union official alleged that the policemen dragged Eloh on the ground until he started foaming and suffocated to death on the spot.

“This is not the first time such senseless killing of innocent Nigerians was carried out by South African police officers.

“We have reported similar killings to the South African Government and Nigeria High Commission in South Africa and nothing was done to bring the culprits to book.

“We want the Nigerian Government to intervene to stop this brutality against innocent Nigerians and stop killing Nigerians out of hatred, racism or xenophobia,’’ he said.

Ikechukwu Anyene, President of Nigerian Union in South Africa, who also confirmed the incident, called for an end to the incessant killing of Nigerians in South Africa.

“Our government needs to do something urgently to make it clear that Nigerian lives matter.

“We have made suggestions on what can be done, but it is now clear to us that the endless talks cannot yield any positive result,’’ Anyene said.

He said that the union had engaged a lawyer to take up the case against South African Police Service.

“But, this kind of legal service should form part of consular services to provide legal services to victimised Nigerians,’’ Anyene said.

The union said that the police have opened an inquest into the case.

NAN recalls that the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, had in February said that a total 116 Nigerians have been killed in South Africa through extrajudicial means in the last two years.

The presidential aide had said during a meeting  with the South African High Commissioner to Nigeria, Lulu Louis Mnguni in Abuja that nearly seven in 10 of the killings were carried out by the South African police. (NAN)

DEB/WOJ

(Edited by Wale Ojetimi)

NAN-HE-26

Workers

No crisis at Ajaokuta Steel Coy, say workers

Lokoja, Aug. 16, 2017 ( NAN) Workers at the troubled Ajaokuta Steel Company Ltd. ( ASCOL) in Kogi State on Wednesday said that the company was not in succession crisis as being alleged in some quarters.

The workers, under the aegis of Iron and Steel Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ISSSAN) and Steel and Engineering Workers Union of Nigeria (SEWUN), dismissed the insinuations in a joint statement issued in Lokoja.

The workers also denied accusing the leadership of ASCOL of breaching financial and administrative regulations of the company, describing a petition allegedly written on their behalf by one Salifu Oguche Usman as unauthorized and frivolous.

Usman, had in the petition addressed to the Minister of Steel Development. alleged that the workers had accused the management of the ASCOL under Mr Joseph Isah as Sole Administrator of abuse of office, among other allegations.

The statement by the two unions was signed by their Chairmen, Mr Nuhu Salawu and Mr Usman Bashir and Secretaries for ISSSAN Mr Attah James and Mr Atabo Omebo for SEWUN.

“We, members of ISSSAN and SEWUN, Ajaokuta Branch, have not consulted, talked to, briefed nor solicited the assistance of anybody, let alone, the said Mr Salifu Oguche Usman to write any petition on our behalf on matters of succession in the company or any other matter therein, “ the workers said.

According to the unions, the process of appointing or removing the Chief Executive officer of Ajaokuta Steel Company is largely political and at the discretion of Federal Government.

“At no point did workers appoint chief executives for the organization. In the case of Isah, it is true he was employed in 1982 and appointed Sole Administrator in 2012.

“We also know as of fact that when Isah was appointed Sole Administrator of Ajaokuta Steel Plant, Mr A.Y Ibrahim was also appointed Sole Administrator of the National Iron Ore Mining Company, (NIOMCO), Itakpe, in November 2012.

“As at the time of the appointment of Ibrahim to head NIOMCO, Itakpe, he had already retired from public service and his appointment stood till he voluntarily withdrew his services and the current Chief Executive Officer was appointed to take over.

“It is also a fact the current NIOMCO Chief Executive Officer had also retired before his current appointment,” the statement explained.

The unions also stated that the issue of 2012 promotion arrears raised in the petition had since been addressed by the management of the steel company.

“ All the relevant documentations have been sent to the Federal Government.

“We in the Union have made several follow ups to the Office of the Accountant- General of the Federation and we are confident that all staff who are qualified will be paid when the Federal Government does so as assured during the 2017 Civil Service Week by the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.

“It should also be noted that all salaries and allowances of our memebrs are being paid directly to their accounts through the Integrated Payroll System of the Federal Government (IPPIS) and no funds associated with salaries of workers come to Ajaokuta,” the unions said.

The workers then appealed to the “ emergency social advocates” who they claimed were ill-informed on ASCOL matters to stop the cheap blackmail and not cause disharmony between them and the management. ( NAN)
KKA/TA
Edited by Tajudeen Atitebi 
 (more…)

Two Pakistanis Kidnapped  in Calabar yet to be released

NAN-H-

Kidnapping

By Biola Lawal

Abuja, Aug. 18, 2017 (NAN) Two Pakistani nationals kidnapped in Calabar since 13 August are yet to be released, reliable family and company sources informed the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

The Sources said that the two men, whose names were given as Azeem Alikhan and Rehan Siddique,  were employees of a private marine company, J.Marine Logistics Limited, operating in Cross River State, and had been in Nigeria for about four years.

“They were kidnapped in the morning hours of Sunday, August 13,” the sources told NAN and appealed to the abductors to release the victims.

According to the sources, “the abductors are yet to establish contact with anyone over the victims,”. (NAN)

Bl/

NAN-DS-5
Victims
By Rabiu Ali
Konduga (Borno), Aug. 16, 2017 (NAN)   No fewer than 45 of 82 victims of Tuesday’s market suicide bomb attack in Konduga, Borno, have been transferred from General Hospital, Konduga, to State Specialist Hospital, Maiduguri, authorities said.

A doctor at the general hospital, who pleaded anonymity, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday that 17 people were brought in dead to the facility.

The doctor said three others died at a hospital in Maiduguri.

“Initially, 17 persons and three suicide bombers were killed at the scene of the attack, while three others, including a child, died at the hospital in Maiduguri.

“We are providing treatment to the victims admitted in the hospital while those with serious cases were referred to Maiduguri,” the doctor said.

Malam Abdullahi Danbatta, the Head of Rescue Team, State Emergency Management Agency,  said the agency’s team  evacuated three bodies from the hospital in Maiduguri to Konduga.

Danbatta added that the team evacuated more than 40 people with serious injuries to the Specialist Hospital, Maiduguri.

The Commissioner of Police in Borno, Mr Damian Chukwu, had confirmed 16 dead and 82 injured in the attack.

Chukwu said the police had /visited and rendered the scene and vicinity of the attack safe and restored normalcy in the area.

Tuesday’s attack occurred two days after Boko Haram insurgents sacked a nearby village, Wanori-Amarwa, killed four persons and maimed two others.

Konduga is one of the towns liberated by the military from the Boko Haram insurgents.

Following the military action, thousands of displaced persons who took refuge at various camps returned to their homes in the area.

The town is 25km from Maiduguri and has a population of more than 20, 000.

Meanwhile, Mr Buana Makinta, a relation of one of the victims, expressed concern over the alleged lack of medications at the regional hospital.

Makinta alleged that the patients were not provided medications many hours after they were admitted at the hospital.

“The medical personnel are handicapped; they only washed the blood and applied bondage to the wounds.
“None of the victims is provided medications due to lack of drugs at the hospital,’’ Makinta alleged.
He called on the government and donor agencies to provide drugs and a generator for the hospital to save lives.  (NAN)
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Edited by Chukwudi Ekezie

Stop playing politics with Buhari’s health – CAN President

NAN-H-35

By Kola Adeyemi

Buhari

Lokoja, Aug. 16, 2017 ( NAN) The President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Dr Samson Ayokunle on Wednesday said Nigerians should stop playing politics with the health of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Ayokunle who made the remark in Lokoja, said Nigerians should leave out sentiments and pray more for the quick recovery of Buhari who is currently in London on medical vacation.

“ Let us continue to pray for him, we don’t play with the life of a human being, and nobody wants to fall sick, so don’t let us continue to make politics out of sickness; let us continue to pray for him,” the CAN President said.

NAN reports that Ayokunle who visited the Kogi chapter of CAN, also cautioned those calling for the resignation of Buhari to be guided by the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.

“The position of CAN is that, we should follow the constitution, we have the constitution to guide us, so whatever the constitution says let us follow it, we drew it ourselves so let us not break it,” he added.

The CAN president also spoke on the ongoing strike by university lecturers, urging them to dialogue with the Federal Government to quickly resolve the dispute.

“ I think this issue has been on ground for too long, let there be a parley between ASUU and government.

“ We are playing with the future of the younger generation, so let us show them love, don’t let us allow our children to grow up hating us, hating the nation.

“ Strike today strike tomorrow; I beg both parties to exercise patience, understanding and maturity.

“We know that the economy is going upside down, we believe that as we are praying for those managing the economy they will come out strong and be able to proffer solutions.”

Earlier, the state Chairman of CAN, Bishop John Ibenu said that the association had been working harmoniously with other religious groups to ensure peace in the state.

He also spoke on security challenge facing the state and appreciated the collaboration between the state government and security agencies to protect lives and property of residents.

Ibenu said CAN had been interfacing with the state government to ensure that workers were not treated unjustly over the just concluded staff verification.

The chairman briefed the CAN president on efforts being made to ensure smooth operation of the Christian Pilgrims Welfare Commission and other issues affecting Christians in the state. ( NAN)
KKA/MZA

Edited by Maharazu Ahmed