Blog

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Water

Emmanuel Antswen

Tyowange (Benue), Oct. 6, 2016 (NAN) More than 1, 500 households in Tyowange community in Benue would benefit from the Guinness Nigeria Plc and Oxfam water project in the state, the company has said.

Managing Director of Guinness, Mr Peter Ndegwa, disclosed this at Tyowange, Buruku Local Government Area, during the inauguration of a water scheme in the community.

Ndegwa said that no fewer than 10,000 persons in households would be beneficiaries of the scheme.

He said that the project was part of Guinness’ social responsibility to the society, to actualize its “Water of Life Programme” started in 2007 across Africa.

“The project has since provided clean drinking water to over 10 million people in 18 countries across Africa.

“In Nigeria, the programme has constructed water facilities in 33 communities across the country.

“We are pleased to note that through these water projects, Guinness Nigeria has helped thousands of Nigerian families to access to clean water.

“This was to improve their overall wellbeing,” he said.

Ndegwa stated that over 57 million people in Nigeria did not have access to clean and safe water, adding that over 130 million of the population did not have access to adequate sanitation.

He explained that he and the company were inspired to embark on the project by the poor water supply situation in the country.

“The worrisome situation of drinking water made me to think of the role Guinness can play in addressing the wide range of water-related issues both in Nigeria and globally”.

In his remarks, Benue governor, Mr Samuel Ortom, charged all corporate organizations operating in the state to fulfil their social responsibilities to their host communities.

Ortom said that his administration was determined to partner all corporate bodies to develop the state. (NAN)

AEB/KOLE/OPI

Edited by Remi Koleoso and controlled by Olisa Ifeajika

NYSC observes low key passing out ceremony nationwide

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NYSC

By Yashim Katurak Rebecca

Abuja, Oct. 6, 2016 (NAN) The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has held back this year’s annual passing out and winding up ceremony held for outgoing corps members nationwide to ensure their safety.

Brig.-Gen. Sule Kazaure, the NYSC Director-General, said this while addressing the 2015 Batch ‘B’ Stream I set of corps members during their passing out on Thursday at the NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp, Kubwa, Abuja.

Represented by Mr Adewoye Omotayo, the NYSC FCT Coordinator, Kazaure said the management of the scheme also held back the yearly ceremony due to current economic challenges facing the country.

“It was a decision made to ensure that all corps members remain safe. On a day like this there is usually a lot of movement of corps members and to prevent any problem from arising we decided to hold back any ceremony.

“The ceremony was also stepped down nationwide because the 2015 Batch B set of corps members were divided into streams I and II. We cannot hold double ceremonies for them just a few weeks apart,” Kazaure said.

However, he urged the outgoing corps members to remain focused on becoming self reliant and self sustaining.

The director-general advised them to put into practice all the skills and entrepreneurship training they received during their one year of national service.

He also enjoined the corps members to continue to be good ambassadors of their homes, institutions and the country.

Besides, Kazaure urged them not to rely on government jobs but strive to utilise the skills they learnt and become employers of labour in the nearest future.

He reminded the corps members not to think that their service to the nation had ended, urging them to go out and affect the society positively.

According to him, a total of 7,298 corps members are expected to pass out of the service year in the 2015 Batch B.

“For now, only the 2015 Batch B stream I is passing out and they are 4,080.

“The rest of them who are in the 2015 Batch B stream II will pass out on Nov. 4, 2016.

“About 65 of them will not be passing out due to one reason or the other. These corps members are likely to face an extension of their service year.

“One corps member died during the service year from an auto crash. Some corpers distinguished themselves by embarking on developmental projects during the service year; they will be honoured by the FCT Minister in November,’’ he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the outgoing corps members in the FCT were asked to assemble at the NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp to receive their certificates of national service. (NAN)
KRY/HS/MST

Edited by Halima Sheji and controlled by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

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Donation
Birnin Kebbi, Oct. 6, 2016 (NAN) The Nigeria Medical Association in Kebbi State has donated foodstuff worth N200,000 to the State Orphanage in Birnin Kebbi.

The Chairman of the association in the state, Dr Haruna  Musa, who presented the items to the management of the orphanage on Thursday, said the donation was part of the association’s programme of reaching out to the less privileged.

He  said the items included milk, sugar, mosquito nets, toilet rolls and noodles among other items.

Musa explained further that the association would sustain the gesture  and expand the scope of the donation to include the needy across the state.

He  advised the inmates to dedicate themselves to their studies while encouraging them to aspire to higher heights in spite of their status.

Musa also enjoined them to be of good behaviour , stressing that “ you should avoid any immoral or indecent conduct that will mar and jeopardise your future.’’

In her remarks, Hajiya Rafaatu Hammani, the Permanent Secretary in the state Ministry of Women Affairs,  who received the items on behalf of the orphanage, commended the association for the gesture.

She called on NGOs and well to do individuals to emulate the association while  assuring that government would continue to promote the welfare of the inmates.

NAN recalls that the state government recently introduced a policy of sponsoring the education of the inmates and employing them after graduation.(NAN)
BKD/EAL/OJO
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(Edited by Ekemini Ladejobi and controlled by Mufutau Ojo)

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Training

By Cecilia Ologunagba

Lagos, Oct. 6, 2016 (NAN) The Centre for Management Development (CMD) says it has built the capacity of no fewer than 716 officials from federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) on effective planning and budgeting.

CMD is an agency under the Ministry of Budget and National Planning with the mandate of providing services in the areas of management training and development, economic management, administration and research.

Its Director-General, Dr Kabir Usman, announced this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at a programme for directors of Planning, Research and Statistics (PRS) in Lagos on Thursday.

The programme was organised for 450 PRS directors and senior officials drawn from 50 Federal Government MDAs, aimed at building their skills on planning and budgeting.

Usman said that the agency had earlier trained 266 officials as train-the-trainers programmes.

According to him, this is to raise the capacity of staff in the areas of planning and budgeting as well as monetary evaluation.

“The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, took it beyond this; we later got nominations from all the MDAs for this programme.

“They have come to learn how to articulate the future, link planning with budgeting and ensure that there is value for money kind of budgeting.’’

“2017 budget is what I call valuing budgeting because it targets areas of priority so CMD is providing that capacity,’’ he said.

Usman said that the minister had placed so much emphasis on capacity building and had mandated the agency to build capacity of officials on understanding budgeting such as Zero-based budgeting.

“People conceive projects but they don’t really articulate it very well, funds are allocated and you have so many abandoned and uncompleted projects.

“This is a disaster because it costs a lot in the country; it simply means there is a wastage and linkage,’’ he said.

According to him, the officials attending the workshop for the past three days will go to their various MDAs to implement what they have learnt.

Usman said that the knowledge acquired from the training would help them to analyse the importance of the Medium Term Sector Plan (MTSP) to national development goals.

He said it would help them to analyse the critical role of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) to achieve sustainable development.

“They will be able to analyse the significance of research and statistics in policy making and implementation; critique current project selection and implementation processes.

“They will also be able to use strategic planning techniques for goal achievement and identify impeding forces in strategic planning,’’ Usman said.

In addition, he said, the participants would be able to create an intelligent linkage between strategic plans, policies and budgeting process.

“I wish we would get additional funding to support the director of PRS, commissioners of budgeting and planning from all the states.

“This is a national government; the ministry doesn’t only plan for the Federal Government but for the nation.

“If we have opportunity, we will extend the training to the local government level.

“Certainly, we need to build the capacity of our people; for the past three years, we have been struggling to enable us to do that.

“We are grateful to the minister for giving us the opportunity which we have not had for three years,’’ Usman said.

The theme of the workshop is “Strategic Planning, Plan Formulation and Effective Linkage to the Budgeting Process”. (NAN)

CIA/MO/IA

Edited by Morayo Omolade/Idris Abdulrahman

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Agreements
By Oluwatoyin Onigbanjo
Lagos, Oct. 6, 2016 (NAN) Dr John Isemede, an international trade expert with UNIDO, says Nigeria is really not gaining from its international trade agreements.

Isemede told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that many of Nigeria’s trade agreements had even worked to its disadvantage due to poor export capacity in non-oil and low industrial capacity.

He said that it was regrettable that in spite of its over 550 trade agreements, Nigeria could still be in a recession

“It is a bitter truth that Nigeria has gained almost nothing from trade agreements that we are into.

“Nigeria is not really doing business with the world, but just trading,’’ he said.

Isemede said that that the best way out of economic recession would be to look inwards and utilise resources from all 774 local governments across the country to create jobs and food security.

“Nigeria currently has signed more than 100 trade policies in the last decade, none of which has impact, because we lack adequate capacity unlike our other countries in these agreements.

“There is a need to review trade agreements and policies at this time because most of the developed countries we see today grew by closing down their borders for a while.

“Take a look at AGOA for instance. For 10 years, only very few exporters have been able to export under the platform due to lack of poor information and proper documentation.

“We have rice mills and farms that are barely functioning, except for the new intervention of the UNIDO and Bank of Industry to empower farmers and this apparently is not enough.

“Most of the nation’s farm produce have been rejected in the EU countries due to the high amount of pesticides, and poor storage methods, yet we are the highest producer of most of those foods.

“For instance, our yams, cassava, sesame seeds, shea butter are being freely exported under documentation from countries like Ghana, Cote’d Voire,” he said.

Isemede said that these countries were beating us to it because of poor marketing capacity.
“Informal export and import trade has also taken over the country and smuggling accounts for up to 80 per cent,” he said.

Isemede appealed to the Federal Government to introduce new policies to boost the export potential of valued added products in sectors like mining, agriculture and manufacturing. (NAN)
OOT/TA
Edited/controlled by Tajudeen Atitebi

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Bail
By Thomson Yamput
Jos, Oct. 6, 2016 (NAN) A Federal High Court sitting in Jos on Thursday granted bail in the sum of N5 million to one Sani Salihu charged with unlawful possession of 504 rounds of live ammunitions and four guns.

The judge, Justice Dorcas Agidi, also ordered that Salihu should produce a surety who must be a director in the state civil service and possess a landed property in Jos.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Salihu, was arraigned on a two-count charge, but he pleaded not guilty.

The prosecutor, Insp. Edwin Ocheyi, had submitted that the accused was arrested in possession of firearms on April 13 at a check point at Hawan Kibo in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau.

He said that the crime contravened Section 27 (1b) of the Armed Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act.

The prosecutor had opposed the bail application filed by counsel to the accused, Mr. A.B. Bako, who submitted that the offence was bail-able and that Salihu had been in detention since his arrest six months ago.

The prosecutor argued that if released on bail, the accused might tamper with investigations on the case.

The case has been adjourned till Nov. 16 for definite trial. (NAN)

TYC/DE/IGO
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(Edited by Dorcas Jonah and controlled by Ijeoma Popoola)

Applicants lament difficulties in accessing Civil Service recruitment portal

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Portal

By Monday Ijeh

Abuja, Oct. 6, 2016 (NAN) Applicants seeking employment into the Federal Civil Service on Thursday decried the difficulties in accessing the recruitment portal of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC).

Some of the applicants who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja, criticised the commission for adopting online platform for recruitment with numerous hitches.

Mr Sam Amadi, an applicant,  said the portal had never worked since the vacancies were declared by the commission.

Amadi said the difficulties being experience in accessing the platform was not in the interest of the applicants as time and money were being wasted.

“I have spent days and nights making attempts to access this portal from the day the vacancies were declared and till now, I have not been able to fill and submit the form.

“Because of the difficulties in getting the link that I am supposed to use to log into the portal, I have opened four emails and yet have not been able to access it.

“I think it is a technical problem that the commission would have discovered and addressed before adopting this online platform,” he said.

Similarly, Mr Bayo Oke, another applicant expressed dissatisfaction over the failure of FCSC to consider the plight of employment seekers before adopting a portal that had not been tested.

He called for a total redesign and test-run of the portal before opening it for applicants, adding that the current difficulties in accessing the portal was frustrating.

“It is really bad considering the current economic situation, that an applicant will be in a cyber café wasting time and money trying to fill employment form.

“I am of the view that the portal be closed for now; redesigned and test-run  before opening it for applicants.

“With this, applicants will be relaxed and the commission will have enough time to work on the portal for efficient performance,” he said.

An investigation by NAN revealed that a few applicants who have been able to access the portal and complete the form, were also having challenges submitting it.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives had also expressed concern over the inability of Nigerians to access the commission’s  recruitment portal.

It has therefore, mandated its Committee on Federal Character to investigate issues surrounding the inability of Nigerians to access the portal. (NAN)

IMC/FNO/NKO

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Edited by Franca Ofili/Nkechi Okoronkwo

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Kidnapping
By Moses Omorogieva
Lagos, Oct. 6, 2016 (NAN)The Vice Principal of Lagos State Model College, Igbonla in Epe area of Lagos State,  and four students of the school, were on Thursday morning kidnapped by gunmen.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Fatai Owoseni, confirmed the incident during his weekly press briefing in Lagos.

Owoseni,however, said that two of the students had been recovered.

“We received an unfortunate information this morning that four students and vice principal of Model College, Epe, were kidnapped at about 8 a.m.

“The kidnappers went away with them in their speed boat. As soon as we got the information, crack detectives were sent there. We have been able to recover two of the students.

“The vice principal and two students are still with the kidnappers. Our men have begun searching for them. We are collaborating with the Navy to search the creeks and the waters.

“By the Grace of God, they will be rescued soon,’’ Owoseni said.

The commissioner also disclosed that about 1,500 police operatives had been deployed to 164 locations regarded as flash points in the state.

He said the deployment was to ensure adequate security for the people of the state during the forthcoming yuletide and after.

“These flash points will be policed on a 24-hour basis, starting from now on.

“Members of the public are to assist in giving timely information about any suspect,’’ he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 25 suspects, who were arrested for alleged various crimes in the last one week in the state, were presented to newsmen.(NAN)
MIO/DO/AMY 

Edited by David Onilede and Abdullahi Yusuf

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Warning

Dutse, Oct. 6, 2016 (NAN)The Jigawa Command of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) has warned commercial motorcyclists to desist from overloading to avoid road accident and crashes.

The FRSC Sector Commander in the state, Mr Angus Ibezim, gave the warning in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Dutse on Thursday.

Ibezim said that it has been observed that some of the accidents involving commercial motorcyclists were mostly as a result of overloading.

The sector commander observed that most operators carry excess passengers including children especially during school hours.

“The rate at which commercial motorcyclists transport multiple number of children to and from school is disturbing.

“That is why we need to intensify effort in enforcing traffic rules and regulations as well as educate people, especially motorcyclists on the importance of safety,’’ Ibezim said.

He explained that the measure was aimed at saving lives and prevent recurrence of vehicular accidents across the state.

However, the sector commander pointed out that this could be achieved only if the operators heed to the warning.

Ibezim, therefore, urged the operators and other vehicle owners to be careful and strictly adhere to the average speed limit.

He further implored them to ensure that they have complete particulars to avoid friction between them and the FRSC officials.

According to him, it was part of the corps’ responsibilities to check motorcyclists and other vehicles particulars as traffic enforcement agency.

Ibezim further reiterated the resolve of the corps to enforce the use of crash helmet by the operators in the state.

“On the issue of crash helmet, we are already discussing with the union leaders and I am sure they will key into that”.

The FRSC boss stressed that the helmet was to prevent head injuries in case of accidents and other emergency situations. (NAN)
MNB/EAL/MTM/
Story edited by Ekemini Ladejobi/controlled by Tukur Muntari.
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You are free to leave, Kwara Utd tells players

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Players

By Olayinka Owolewa

Ilorin, Oct. 6, 2016 (NAN) The management of Kwara United Football Club on Thursday informed its players that anyone that desired to leave the club was free to go.
Chairman of the club,  Oladimeji Thompson, stated this in a statement issued in Ilorin.
He said that the team had closed all proceedings for the just concluded 2015/2016 season and would go on break till Dec. 1

The chairman also said that the club had commenced the draft of an agenda for the next season.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the club finished third on the Nigeria National League (NNL) Group A2 table behind group winners, Gombe United and second placed Dream International FC of Makurdi.
According to him, the team is expected to resume with just 25 players.
Thompson said that the number of players would be reduced to ensure adequate coordination, discipline, competitiveness and good welfare package.
He thanked the players, coaches and members of staff for their endurance and sacrifice throughout the season.
The chairman also thanked Gov. Abdulfatah Ahmed for his support to the team and the opportunity given him to serve.

He commended the Ministry of Sports and Youth Development, the Sports Council, State Football Association, referees, sports writers, Supporters and other stakeholders for their support.

He said that the relationship with the stakeholders would be sustained.

Thompson stated that the club would hard to return to the elite division of Nigerian league next season.
He charged the players and technical crew to brace up for the challenges ahead.(NAN)

OOH/KOLE/MEMO
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Edited by Remi Koleoso/Controlled by Mike Mbonye