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Mechanised farming is panacea to food security – Don
NAN-AE-1
Food
By Ajibola Olaniyi
Osogbo, Oct. 26, 2016 (NAN) Dr Biodun  Ogunwale of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, has said that   mechanised farming will guide against food insecurity in Nigeria.

Ogunwale made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Osogbo on Wednesday.

He explained that it was dangerous for the
country to operate on a mono-culture economy with arable land all over Nigeria, while calling for aggressive mechanised farming system.

According to him, Nigeria can easily survive and take good care of its citizens without oil.

He expressed disappointment in the way agriculture was neglected at the point oil was discovered in  the country.

“I think Nigeria started to miss the road at the time oil was discovered in the late 50s and the resultant affluence all over the nation.

“The political leaders at that time failed to see beyond their present moment and prepare for a viable alternative in line with our economic cost advantage.

“It is obvious that agriculture used to be our mainstay of economy and the largest employer of labour in the past, why the abandonment then,’’ he queried.

He enjoined the Ministry of Agriculture to be resilient in turning around the sector in calling for more government intervention.

Ogunwale stressed that robust mechanised farming system will not only guarantee food security but reduce the menace of unemployment in the country.

He also implored graduates to take to farming and stop searching for elusive white collar  jobs. (NAN)
DOO/OFN

NAN-H-2
CAN
By Iliya Rita
Minna, Oct. 26, 2016 (NAN) The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Niger has advised the Federal Government to involve seasoned, experienced and informed clergymen to assist in counselling the released 21 Chibok girls.

The CAN Chairman in the state, Dr Mathias Echioda, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna on Tuesday.

Echioda said that the call became necessary to help rebuild their morals and lives of the affected girls.

“I appeal to the Federal Government to involve clergymen that will use their professional based knowledge and faith to counsel the girls.

“Government should involve seasoned, experienced and informed clergymen to assist in counselling the girls to rebuild their morals and lives,” he said.

He added that the effort would help the girls to overcome the physiological trauma they went through in the hands of their abductors.

The CAN chairman described the release of the girls as a welcome development to Nigerians in particular and the world at large.

“It is a welcome development because it is a miracle that Nigerians and the world have been expecting to happen, long ago. It came at a time when there was no clear knowledge of it coming.

“Our continuous prayer is that the remaining girls be released and reunited with their loved ones.”

Echioda expressed delight on the dialogue for the release of the remaining missing girls.

“We all know that some parents of these girls died of depression and shock and the 21 girls released will only refresh the wounds on the mind of the parents whose children are still missing.

“Negotiation does not mean yes immediately or no, it is a diplomacy and a civilised world should negotiate or dialogue, considering certain terms of reference and agreement.

“Nigeria should not be looked at in the eyes of the world as not developing. I suggest that government should weigh the pros and cons of whatever decision to take in the process of dialogue.” (NAN)
RIS/DUA/OFN
Edited by Dada Ahmed//Felix Nwadioha

NAN-H-130

Panel

By Chukwuemeka Opara

Abakaliki, Oct.25, 2016 (NAN) The Special investigation panel set up by the National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC) has commenced investigations into the alleged extra judicial killings in the Abakaliki Federal Prisons.

The special panel is also investigating the alleged presence of
lunatics, infants, pregnant women and nursing mothers in the prison.

Inmates of the prison on Aug. 18, 2016, attempted a jailbreak during which some inmates lost their lives and others were  injured.

A rights group, Committee for the Defence of Human rights, Ebonyi State Branch, had  accused security officials of extra judicial killings at the Abakaliki Prisons.

While the Comptroller General of Prisons, Ahmed Ja’afaru, said six people were killed and 10  others injured in the incident,  the group said the figure was higher.

The five- member investigative panel, led by Mr Anthony Ojukwu, has four days to conclude its assignment.

“The committee was mandated to investigate the killings and
injuries that were recorded during the botched jailbreak.

“We are also investigating cases of inmates with
mental illness, infants and women who are also in the prison,” he said.

Ojukwu noted that a mentally derailed person is not supposed to  be in prison but should be taken to hospital for medical attention,” he said.

In her remarks, the state Comptroller of Prisons Mrs. Emilia Oputa, said the deaths at the prisons were regrettable.

“We did not expect the inmates of the Abakaliki Prisons
to revolt against the officials as they were well-treated more than their Afikpo Prison counterparts.

“I can confirm this with my assessment during the visit to the two federal prisons on assumption of office,” she said. (NAN)

RCO/JCE
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Edited by Chukwudi Ekezie

NMA advocates community health scheme for non-civil servants

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Scheme
Dutse, Oct. 25, 2016 (NAN) The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has advocated for Community Health Scheme for non-civil servants in Jigawa.

The state Chairman of NMA, Dr Abubakar Habib, gave the advice at the association’s 20th Physicians Week on Tuesday in Dutse, themed “Health Care in a frail Economy: Challenges and Way Forward”.

Habib said there was need for the state government to introduce an all inclusive health policy to benefit its citizens.

He said the state’s Health Insurance Scheme, introduced by the government, was restricted to only workers hence the need to capture non formal workers in the health scheme.

He said people that are non civil servants could be made to contribute little money to access healthcare when needed.

“For instance, citizens that are not working can contribute as little as N100 or N200 monthly to access health care when the need be,” he said.

Habib commended Gov. Muhammad Abubakar’s administration for the ongoing reform in the health sector in the state.
He said that N20.4 billion, which represented 15 per cent of the total budget, was allocated to health sector in 2016.

The NMA chairman also expressed gratitude on the ongoing verification of health personnel in the state. (NAN)
MS/CEO/MST

Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

NAN-H-124
Trafficking
By Lucy Nwachukwu
Abuja,Oct.25,2016 (NAN) Sen. Shehu Sani, Vice-Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, has called on the African Union(AU) to make death due to migration of persons priority on its agenda.

Sani spoke when he visited the Acting Director-General, National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Alhaji Abdulrazak Dangiri, in Abuja on Tuesday.
”The one of interest to us here is that of our young men and women dying in the Mediterranean in search of an elusive greener pasture.
”It is very painful to see young men and women, including children, everyday, in the Mediterranean being rescued by aid agencies and sometimes European border guards.
”This should spark our consciences
”And unfortunately up till this very time, those deaths recorded in the Mediterranean are yet to be part of the agenda of the African Union and that is a very big problem, “Sani said.
He said the essence of the visit was to introduce an initiative by the parliament to NAPTIP which would address the issue of irregular migration.
He said the initiative was  ”Pan- African Initiative Against Irregular Migration”.
Sani said that the issue of young Nigerians being deceived and promised greener pastures outside the shores of the country should be a concern to all stakeholders.
”They are promised haven but most of them end up as sex slaves, labourers, terrorists or even drug peddlers, this is of concern to us and should be same for all.
”This initiative is to spotlight that sensitive issue that skips the minds of government and we have to make this a major agenda for government and parliament.
”The exploitation of our people dents our image as a country and this initiative has decided to reach out to all stakeholders,’’ he said.

Sani  said that in spite of all that NAPTIP was doing on the issue, more needed to be done, adding that it was the responsibility of stakeholders to provide support to NAPTIP.
He said the initiative was aimed at restoring dignity and saving lives and that the collaboration of NAPTIP was essential to make it to succeed.
He further said that his office would be part of the monitoring of NAPTIP budget to ensure it was well funded to carry out its duties.
Responding, Dangiri said the agency had been doing its best in the rescue and rehabilitation of victims of illegal migration.
He, however, said the limitation had been funding as money was required to train, counsel and rehabilitate the rescued victims.
He said the agency had about nine shelters in the country and what it received was not enough to cater to all the people in the shelters.
So far, the agency has empowered about 30,000 victims of illegal migration, he said. (NAN)
LCN/JCE
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Edited by Chukwudi Ekezie

NAN-HG-17
Approval
By Talatu Maiwada
Abuja, Oct. 25, 2016 (NAN) The Federal Government has approved a task force to rebuild infrastructural facilities in the North Eastern states’ ravaged by insurgency within six months, Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has said.

A statement signed by Mrs Boade Akinola, Director, Media/Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Health, said Adewole made the statement when he visited Alhaji Usman Mamman Durkwa, Deputy Governor of Borno State, over the weekend.

The statement was made available to newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja.

Akinola quoted the minister as saying that the task force had been mandated to focus on restoring health, nutrition, water and environmental facilities damaged in the zone.

“The task force will be coordinated by the Office of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and chaired by the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma.

“The water, health and environment component will be headed by a Minister and the Minister of Health will coordinate the health and nutrition components of the task force.

`The task force will commence work in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa with more focus in Borno State,’’ Adewole said.

The minister said that the budget for the programme had been approved and the work plan was been developed with necessary facilities provided in all the affected states.

“The Federal Ministry of Health in its capacity has provided health commodities worth about 1.2 billion naira to Borno State,

“The first consignment is for Maiduguri which is about N400, 000 million and the second batch will follow later.

“The Ministry will continue to partner with Borno State in the area of healthcare delivery,’’ the minister said.

The minister said the task force would work under the supervision of the Presidential Initiative for the North-East which would be inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He added that the challenges facing Borno and other north-eastern states affected not only the north- east but the whole country.

In his remarks, the deputy governor expressed appreciation for the efforts being put in place by the federal government to re-build Borno State.

While commending the Federal Ministry of Health for providing health facilities, Dukwa   assured that his government would partner federal government and development partners to rebuild the state. (NAN)

TIM/AEA/AEA
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Edited by Archibong Asuquo

NAN-H-118
Revenue
Kazeem Akande

Lagos, Oct. 25, 2016 (NAN) A lawmaker, Mr Olanrewaju Ogunyemi, on Tuesday told authorities of the Lagos State University to be innovative in generating more revenue as government funding was insufficient for all the institution’s needs.

Ogunyemi, the Chairman, Lagos State House of Assembly (LAHA) Committee on Education, gave the advice during an oversight visit to the university and the Michael Otedola College of Primary Education (MOCPED), Noforija, Epe

He said that innovation, ingenuity and great ideas must be the hallmark of the university in its bid to actualise its dreams, especially that of being a world-class institution.

According to him, the challenges facing the school are not insurmountable, with the new management led by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun in place.

He commended the management for its achievements in the last 10 months and urged the members to continue to consolidate on the gains.

“We want to commend your efforts; our students are very important. You are here because of the students and you must communicate with them regularly.

‘’Let us keep close tabs on the students and engage them regularly and constantly.

“We must continue to contain them; we want the university to treat the backlog of results and certificates of the students and want crisis to be completely eradicated in LASU.

“It is commendable that the activities of cults have been eliminated in the school because we have not heard of cultism in LASU for one year,” he said.

Ogunyemi promised that the assembly would continue to support the university to achieve its objectives.

Fagbohun, the Vice Chancellor of the University, had earlier told the visiting lawmakers that the university could only admit about 5,000 of the huge number of applicants who chose the school in the academic year.

He said that the school had been mandated to charge N25,000 as school fees as against the average of N100,000 being collected by other state universities, which was grossly inadequate.

The vice chancellor said that the school lacked basic infrastructure such as tables and chairs for the students.

He commended the state government for the on-going construction of an ultra-modern library, students’ arcade and senate building, amongst others.

Fagbohun also said that a large portion of land belonging to the school had been taken over by external forces, and houses had been built on about 71 per cent of the land.

The vice chancellor appealed to the lawmakers to reclaim the properties of the school and help in taking it to the next level.

At MOCOPED, Prof. Ola Akewusola, the provost of the school, while receiving the lawmakers, said that he had been able to achieve much since he got to the school in 2011.

Akewusola said that his desire was to turn the institution into a university of education.

He said that the management was working towards the objective with the state government.(NAN)
AKA/SOA

Edited by Oluwole Sogunle

NDPHC will complete all national integrated power projects-MD

NAN-HE-25

Projects

By Kingsley Okoye

Abuja, Oct. 25,2016(NAN) The Niger-Delta Power Holding Company says it is determined to actualise the mandate of the current administration by completing the ongoing power projects to boost power generation, transmission and distribution in the country.

The Managing Director of NDPHC, Mr. Chiedu Ugbo, announced this at the Power Sector Communication Team (PSCT) solar energy workshop in Abuja on Tuesday.

He said the completion of the projects would put the company in a better position to deliver more power to Nigerians from its current 45 per cent contribution to the National Grid.

He said that NDPHC, as power sector infrastructure development company, installed capacity for 4,774 Mega Watts(MW) of electricity.

According to him, a total of 120 transmission projects is being executed by the company.

The transmission projects include the construction of 1,635 Km of 330kV Double Circuit lines, 720Km of 132 V Double Circuit lines.

Other projects include the 10 new 330kV substations; seven new 132kV substations; 6,150MVA of 330/132kV transformer capacity;   2,800 of 132/33kV transformers capacity.

The expansion of 36 Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) 330kV and 132kV substations across the country is part of the projects

He said that most of the projects had been completed and were already in use.

He said that preparation was on to commission the NDPHC Ikot-Ekpene Switching station.

The project would allow the evacuation of over 2,000MW of electricity from Calabar, Alaoji, Afam power stations.

On distribution projects, Ugbo said that NDPHC added 1,712 Km of 33kV lines; 4,540KM of 11kV lines; 24,996 completely Self-Protected (CSP) distribution transformers; 3,970MVA injection substations capacity and 1,212MVA CSP Transformers(distribution) capacity in the network.

He said that NDPHC completed  seven gas delivery facilities to facilitate gas delivery to the plants, to ensure that gas delivery infrastructure did not affect supply to the power plants.

He said that several intervention projects in both transmission and distribution chain of the power industry were also completed and added to the network by NDPHC.

The privatisation of the power plants are still on course with three power stations in the first round.

“Specifically this process will continue with the conclusion of on-going privatisation of Calabar, Geregu and Omotosho power stations.

“Decision on Omoku power station will be taken after the conclusion of on-going project audit of the plant.

` All these strategies are designed to enable the management to complete all the projects under phase 1 and deliver power to Nigerians.“

NDPHC is actively involved in the Presidential Initiative on Rural Solar Home Lighting systems where 20,000 units of Solar Home Systems (SHS)  to rural areas with no access to grid electricity supply are being implemented.

NDPHC signed a partnership contract with Azuri Technologies Group/Azuri Solar Power Nigeria Limited for the Presidential initiative designed to be achieve in 12 months’ deployment of all SHS units.

He said that a new department had been created to drive the initiative and  identify communities to benefit from the programme.

The workshop was designed to educate the power sector communicators on the policy, technical and commercial aspects of the emerging solar industry in Nigeria.

It is in line with government policy of attaining 30 per cent of renewable energy generation by 2030.

Presentations were made by solar experts on the following topics, including “The Place of Solar in Nigerian’s Energy Mix, Regulating Solar Power” and “Impact of Solar Generation on the Grid” (NAN)

KC/IA

Edited by Idris Abdulrahman

Ujah calls on FG to support local airlines

NAN-H-117
Airlines
By Sumaila Ogbaje
Abuja, Oct. 25, 2016 (NAN) Rev. Tor Ujah, the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Christians Pilgrims Commission (NCPC), has called on the Federal Government to provide adequate support for domestic airlines operating in the country.
Uja spoke to newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja, at the signing of Air Lift Agreement for the pilgrimage operation with Atlasjet Nigeria Limited and Izy Nigeria Limited.
He said the indigenous airlines that bidded for the airlifting of the pilgrims lacked the capacity to perform the operation, adding that most local airlines did not have good aircraft.
“I will like to also urge the Federal Government to invest in the Nigerian aviation sector to finance and support some of the individual and potential airlines so that we can have airlines that can lift Nigerian pilgrims to their destinations.
“Even the indigenous airlines we selected during this process will have to hire airplanes from outside the country, but Atlasjet owns its jets which allow them to come in easily and go out easily.
“There are no Nigerian airlines that really have the capacity and government has to come in.
“If the government will also put in a heavy amount of money in the airlines, it will enable them acquire good aircraft to be able to fly large number of pilgrims and to be able to go different areas of the world.
“I believe that Nigeria is a big market that every airline will be willing to enter into and would do excellently,’’ he said.
Ujah said that NCPC was committed to the upright processes of doing things, adding that the carriers were selected out of a very transparent rigorous process in line with the law.
He said the process was to make sure that the airlines that were selected were those with proven excellence and capacity.
According to him, NCPC is committed to ensure that all pilgrims that go to any part of the world whether Rome, Greece and Israel returned alive and in good health.
“We will make sure that we get the best aircraft and we will make sure that we get the best ground handlers and most importantly, we will make sure that Nigerian pilgrims are not exposed to danger,’’ he added. (NAN)
OYS/OU/OU
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NAN-HG-15
Cancer
By Mustapha Yauri
Abuja Oct. 25, 2016 (NAN) The Federal Government says it will soon begin the distribution of cervical cancer vaccine to reduce the prevalence of the disease in Nigeria.

The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Tuesday.

Adewole said that cervical and breast cancers are some of the major diseases affecting women in the country.

Cue in audio

“Fortunately we know what causes cervical cancer.

“There is now a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer and we are working to make the vaccine available.

“We are training more people for the detection of the cancer of the cervix, but much more importantly, in our 2017 budget we want to upgrade seven more centres for the treatment of cancer.

“I can tell today that there is no public hospital that has a functional cancer machine.’’

Cue out audio

According to the minister, cervical cancer is caused by a virus and that by age 20 to 25 years of age, almost all women who have had sex before will have the cervical cancer virus.

He, however, added that in another three to four years, the immunity in some of the women would kill the virus.

“The few people that are unable to clear the virus in their system are the ones that are disposed to developing cancer in future,’’ he explained.

The minister, therefore, called for early diagnosis of cancer, saying that it could be prevented from developing when detected early enough.

Adewole, who said cancer is a cause for concern to the present administration, added that the government would revise the National Cancer Plan for effective response.

He said the ministry would constitute a National Cancer Steering Committee to be chaired by the minister of health.

He said government would upgrade the cancer treatment centres in Maiduguri, Zaria, Ilorin, and the National Hospital, Abuja.

Other centres include the ones in Ibadan, Benin, and Enugu.

He explained that the upgrade would be the first phase of the programme. (NAN)
AM/YEE
Edited by Emmanuel Yashim
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