Blog

I-G urges transport unions to streamline activities to curb illegal motor parks

NAN-H-1

Parks

Abuja, Sept. 30, 2016 (NAN) The Inspector-General of Police (I-G), Alhaji Ibrahim Idris, has advised transport unions to streamline their operations to enable them to regulate and curb illegal motor parks in the country.

Idris gave the advice when the National Executive Council of  the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) visited him in Abuja.

He added that operating different parks by different transport unions was a hindrance to effective park management.

The IGP said that if all transport unions could eliminate illegal park, eradicating criminal activities at parks would be a lot easier.

“We are trying to regulate motor parks; in some places you have RTEAN and in other places you have NURTW; this has made the management of these parks more difficult.

“If you can meet to streamline motor parks among yourselves, then it will be easier to regulate these parks.

The I-G, however, said that he would direct Commissioners of Police in states to cooperate with the union in checkmating crime and illegal motor parks in the country.

Earlier, Alhaji Najeem Yasin, the NURTW National President, said that the visit was to build on the existing cordial relationship between the union and the police.

He identified illegal motor parks as a major challenge and a threat to the security of lives and property in the country.

Yasin, therefore, appealed to the I-G to assist in eradicating illegal loading and off-loading at non-designated parks in the country.

“We wish to appeal to you to assist us to eradicate all forms of illegal loading and off-loading at non-designated parks and to ensure the closure of all illegal parks in the country.

“The activities of these illegal park operators include kidnappings, ritual killings and even insurgency.

“I wish to appeal to the I-G to direct the various state commands to extend their cooperation to our state chapters to enable us to contribute our quota towards making Nigeria crime free.”

Yasin commended the I-G on his resolve to reposition the police force to be responsive to the yearnings of Nigerians. (NAN)

TY/EEM/NKO

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Edited by Emmanuel Mogbede/Nkechi Okoronkwo

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CONTROL STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY,SEPTEMBER 28,2016

H-           135

HE-         27

DS-         6

HG-        16

AE-         13

ELS-          9

F-            24

S-            5

FG reiterates commitment to establish ranches, grazing reserves

NAN-H-134

Ranches

By Monday Ijeh

Abuja, Sept. 29, 2016 (NAN) Mr Babachir Lawal, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) has reiterated the resolve of the Federal Government to establish ranches and grazing reserves across the country, a statement said.

The statement issued on Thursday in Abuja by Mr Bolaji Adebiyi, the Director of Press in the Office of the SGF, said that the decision was reached to address the incessant clashes between herdsmen and farmers.

Adebiyi said that SGF reiterated the Federal Government’s  decision when he received a delegation from Tabital Pulako Njode Jam Foundation, led by its chairman, Alhaji Abdul Bali.

He noted that most of the crimes on farmlands were perpetrated by nomads who migrated into the country and pledged the Federal Government commitment to enlighten herdsmen on ways to make cattle rearing more profitable.

According to Adebiyi, Bali said that the foundation was established to look into the clashes between herdsmen and farmers, adding that its submissions had shown that nomads from other countries were responsible for clashes with farmers.

He urged the Federal Government to strengthen control at the nation’s borders.

Meanwhile, the SGF has assured the people of the North-East of fairness in the provision of relief materials to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) across the states in the region.

He gave the assurance when he received a delegation from Lardin Gabas Elders Forum led by the Chairman of its Board of Trustees, Capt. Paul Tahir.

He said that a Presidential Committee on North-East Initiative (PCNI) would soon be inaugurated to streamline rehabilitation activities in the region and accelerate the return of normal life to the area.

The delegation pledged the commitment of the forum to work with the Federal Government to bring succour to victims of insurgency.

The forum also advocated the return of Christian Religious Studies to school curriculum, to teach youths  good morals. (NAN)

IMC/NKO/NKO

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Edited by Nkechi Okoronkwo

Minister wants religious studies made compulsory in schools

NAN-H-132

History

By Chijioke Okoronkwo

Abuja, Sept. 29. 2016 (NAN) The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, on Thursday in Abuja urged delegates to the National Council of Education (NCE) to consider making the study of religion compulsory for all students.

This is contained in a statement by Mr Agidike Onu, Information Officer of the ministry, in Abuja on Thursday.

Adamu, who spoke at the 61st Ministerial Session of NCE, said school children should learn religion at least up to the end of senior secondary education.

According to him, such studies will make school children acquire moral and ethics as taught in our religious traditions.

“I urge you to consider making the study of Christian Religious Knowledge compulsory for Christian students and the study of Islamic Religious Knowledge compulsory for Muslim students.

“There is nothing we can give them than to give them character, teach them about their God – the source of all values on which life and peaceful coexistence depends.”

The minister advocated the disarticulation of social studies in the current curriculum and re-introduction of History as a subject.

Adamu said that leaders in the education sector committed “a mistake” by removing history.

“How can we know who we are when we do not know who we are not?

“How can we know what to make of our society when we don’t know how our society is made up?

“How can we hope to make sense of the world when we don’t know our place in it?”

Adamu reiterated the strategic position of the teacher in the achievement of any meaningful progress in education development.

The minister added that conscious efforts were being made by the government on teacher development.

He maintained that providing all other learning facilities and environment without the right quality teacher to drive teaching would amount to a nullity.

Adamu said that teacher development programme had been intensified in the states through the Universal Basic Education Commission.(NAN)

CJ/OFN

Edited by Felix Nwadioha

Forum urges states, LGAs to establish sporting facilities at grassroots

NAN-S-4
Facilities
By Bushrah Yusuf-Badmus
Ilorin, Sept. 29, 2016 (NAN) The forum of State Director of Sports has called on states and local governments to provide sporting facilities at the grassroots.

The call was contained in the communique signed by the Forum Chairman, Tunde Kazeem, at the end of its seminar on the National Youth Games (NYG), a Tool for Sports Development in Nigeria, held on Thursday in Ilorin.

The forum urged the state governments to provide adequate and timely funding for sporting activities in their states.

It also advised the Federal Government to make the NYG a tool to identify younger athletes considering Nigeria’s failures during the 2016 Olympics.

”We call for the use of youths and intermediate games to enhance performance of Nigeria at international competitions and National Sports Festival.

“And that physical education should be embedded in the curriculum of primary and secondary schools.

”The culture of sponsorship by private and corporate sponsors should be encouraged in Nigeria.

The forum, however, recommended the immediate passing of the National Sports Commission (NSC) Bill by the National Assembly in order to remove the bureaucracy that sports is facing in Nigeria.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 2nd edition of the NYG, which started on Saturday, ended on Thursday with Delta state leading the medals table with 26 medals, followed by Ogun and Kwara as second and third respectively. (NAN)
BAY/AK/AFA
Edited by Akin Makanjuola/Felix Ajide
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Buhari will do everything to make Nigeria great- Osinbajo

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Nation

By Donald Ugwu
Abuja, Sept. 29, 2016, (NAN) Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said that President Muhammadu Buhari is ready to put everything on the line to make Nigeria great.

He said this when he received a delegation of Christian Ministers Welfare Initiative, also known as the Pastors’ Forum, Taraba State, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday.

According to hhim, President Buhari has no other objective other than seeing this dream come true.

“This morning, I had a meeting with the President and he repeated to me twice, he said ‘at my age there is only one thing I am looking for; I want to see a great Nigeria’.

“He has no other objective and I feel very inspired by that,” Prof Osinbajo said.

Osinbajo restated the commitment of the President and himself to a great Nigeria where peace and justice would reign, saying “it is madness for anybody in our position to be looking for money”.

According to him, God puts people in a position of authority for them to be able to do something for their people.

“I think if any Nigerian gets the chance to be president of the country, there is nothing he/she is looking for anymore except that while there you improve the lot of the people,” he added.

Linking the economic situation to corruption and official graft, Osinbajo said “no economy can tolerate the level of corruption seen in Nigeria without the consequence.

“Nigerian lives were being lost and yet people cannot account for $15 billion meant for purchase of security equipment to fight the insurgents.”

Besides, the Vice President Vice also explained how the factor of vandalism of oil installations had contributed to the recession being experienced.

He said Nigeria had lost several millions of barrels of crude oil due to the activities of the militants in the Niger Delta.

He recalled that by early 2016 the country was producing 5,000MW of power for the first time, but by February 2016 the Focados terminal was destroyed by militants.

He said, however, that 40 per cent of the gas used to fire the power plants were lost and the country was down to 2,500MW of power.

According to him, at the time the militants started blowing up oil and gas installations, the amnesty stipends were still being paid.

“Nothing changed, the only reason is that we are investigating people who have stolen money.”

He added that the country was losing one million barrels of oil a day, equivalent to 60 per cent of the country’s revenues.

Accordingly, he noted that there is nowhere such amount of revenue is lost without going into some economic challenge like a recession.

He expressed optimism that the country would come out of the recession as “there is no question at all; God has a reason for bringing us in at this time.

“And God helping us we will see a change in this country.”

Osinbajo urged the Church and all religious leaders to stand up against corruption, stressing that if the government was doing the right thing by fighting corruption the Church should support it.

He assured that the Federal Government was working very seriously to end the problem of ravaging herdsmen.

He said the oresident had instructed the police and the military to act and deal with anybody who unlawfully carried arms.

The Vice President urged that anybody with early information or intelligence on such violent activities should give it to government and the security agents for effective response.

While calling on honest and forthright men in the country to work together, Osinbajo said God had structured Nigeria in such a way that no one could dominate another, not Muslims against Christians or Christians against Muslims.

“It is not possible for one tribe to dominate another based on the way God has structured the country.

“The reason we have Christian president and Muslim vice president or Muslim president and Christian vice president is to have balance,” he said.

Earlier, the Chairman of the delegation, Rev, Godwin Nyiekule, said the delegation was in the State House to pledge their support to the Buhari Administration for its forthrightness and fight against corruption.

“We are happy with the government for the war against corruption crusade,” Nyiekule said.

Nyiekule also said that the Christian Ministers Welfare Initiative is a non-partisan group but supports good persons who want to participate in government.

He also called on the Federal Government to come to the assistance of those churches whose premises were being used as IDP camps.(NAN)
DCU/OFN

Edited by Felix Nwadioha

Edo Election: Young Democratic Party sues INEC

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Party

By Wandoo Sombo

Abuja, Sept.29, 2016 (NAN) The Young Democratic Party (YDP) has dragged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to court for allegedly being responsible for its abysmal performance in the Sept. 28 gubernatorial election in Edo.

The Acting National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mrs Evelyn Okere, made this known at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday.

Okere attributed the poor number of votes scored by party to the failure of INEC to display the correct logo of the party on the ballot paper.

“We lost a lot of votes because our voters did not know where to vote and this has caused us a lot; we prepared very well for this election.

“We did our campaign; we went from house to house campaigning in Edo for our candidate and for us to be treated in this manner is unacceptable and we will take it up,’’ Okere said.

She noted that the reason given by INEC as to why it did not use the party’s preferred logo was not in conformity with the Electoral Act.

The party spokesperson said that INEC had written a letter to YDP informing the party that it could not use light bulb as its logo.

INEC, she said, was processing the logo for the registration of Socialist Party of Nigeria as a political party.

Mr Raphael Sebibo-Horsfall, a Board of Trustees member of the Party, however, said that the provision of Section 82 was that no political party should use the logo of another political party.

Sebibo-Horsfall noted that the said political party was still undergoing registration, and not a fully registered party.

He said that the YDP would want the court to determine whether by provisions of Section 82 subsection 2(a) INEC could deny it continued use of its adopted logo on the grounds that the said logo was under processing for registration by an association as political party.’’

He added that the party went to court with the hope of getting a judgment that would invalidate the entire election because its teeming supporters were disenfranchised.

“You will agree with me that the logo of a party is the symbol of the party.

“So when our members went out to vote and did not see our logo on the ballot paper, they were greatly disappointed and cried out.”

He added that INEC had denied the youths in Edo an opportunity to elect their leader and it would be unfair for the commission to go ahead to announce a winner in the election.

He said the party would follow all the necessary legal processes to get justice for its members.(NAN)

WS/EMO/OFN

Edited by Felix Nwadioha

NAN-HG-16
Women
By Martins Odeh
Abuja, Sept. 29, 2016 (NAN) Ipas, an International Non-Governmental Organisation on Wednesday, says it will continue to champion the rights of women toward enhancing their reproductive health in the country.

The Ipas Country Director, Mrs Hauwa Shekarau, stated this in Abuja while receiving executive members of the Initiative for Women’s Accelerated Development in Africa (INWOAD).

Shekarau said that Ipas would continue to provide Nigerian women access to high quality reproductive health care through basic health information.

She added that “for us, the life of every woman counts. No woman should of course die during child birth.”

She, therefore, pledged to partner with INWOAD and other related non-governmental organisations toward improving the lives of women and children.

The Ipas country director expressed delight about the several efforts of INWOAD at promoting gender equality, adding that the group must remain focused.

Earlier, Ms Evelyn Onyilo, the President of INWOAD, had commended Ipas for promoting maternal and child health in the country, adding that several women had benefited from Ipas health education campaign.

She noted with concern that women, especially those in the rural areas, still lacked access to affordable and quality health care services.

She said “we have therefore, come to negotiate a partnership with your organisation for swift intervention within our limited resources.

“Our organisation is committed to working closely with Ipas to improve women’s reproductive health and rights across the country.” (NAN) OMO/AK/HA
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(Edited by Akin Makanjuola/Hadiza Mohammed-Aliyu)

Industrial court panel to decide on SSANU,FG dispute Oct.31

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By Doris Esa
Judgment
Abuja,Sept. 29, 2016 (NAN) a panel of the National Industrial Court will deliver judgment in the dispute between the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Federal Ministry of Education on Oct.31.

SSANU also joined the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission as co- respondents.

Justice Benedict Kanyip led two other justices of the court to fixed date for the judgment after counsel to parties adopted their final written addresses on Thursday.

Adopting his address, Mr Gani Adetola-Kaseem (SAN), told the panel that the defendants allegedly failed to honour a 2009 collective agreement entered into by parties.

Adetola-Kaseem claimed that the defendants had no intention of honoring or implementing the said agreement between the Federal Government and the association.

He told the court that some members of the staff schools were allegedly given sack letters by Vice-Chancellors, adding that the termination of the staff’s appointment was unlawful.

The claimant counsel told the court that the said agreement had been breached and they were in court to asked for certain reliefs.

He also that they were in court for the court to give interpretation to the clause in the agreement regarding government giving assistance to universities.

He argued that defendants have the responsibility to provide welfare and security for the University staff primary school children.

“Government has been doing this for years, they are the owners and proprietors and have been doing it for years.

“We urged your lordship to get to the root of this matter to find out the truth,” he argued.

Mr I.C.Iwuoha,counsel to the second defendant, Salaries, Income Wages Commission, said their position was that the university should take full responsibility for running the staff schools.

“Our position is that the University should use the income generated to fund the schools because nobody asked the Varsities to open the staff schools,” Iwuoha said

Iwuoha urged the court to critically look at the said agreement and determine the response of parties,and “look at the issues with the eye of Solomon”.

The association had on Dec. 24, 2015 declared an indefinite strike for alleged plans by government to retrench over 2,000 teachers of staff schools of public universities nationwide.

The association had alleged that the government had directed all vice chancellors to stop paying workers of Staff Schools of universities.(NAN)

ORD/OFN

Edited by Felix Nwadioha

NAN-H-110

Investment

By Azubuike Okeh

Port Harcourt, Sept. 29, 2016(NAN) Rivers Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has said that his administration has provided an enabling environment for foreign investments to thrive.

Wike made the statement l when the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Paul Arkwright and Minister for Africa, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Mr Tobias Ellwood visited him in Port Harcourt on Thursday.

He said the state was safe and had the right atmosphere and climate for foreign direct investment in agriculture.

The governor said that  ongoing infrastructure developments across the state were geared toward setting the stage for foreigners to come in.

The governor also said that his administration had started the preliminary process for the construction of a specialist tertiary hospital to ensure adequate healthcare services for the people.

He pledged the state government’s commitment to  cooperating with the international community to attract developmental projects to Rivers.

“We are promoting  partnership in the area of agriculture because we believe that it will create employment  opportunities  for  our youths,’’ he said.

Earlier, Ellwood said that the UK would partner Nigeria  in its bid to diversify its economy.

He said that the visit was also aimed at improving the relationship between  the UK and the  Rivers Government.

Ellwood  assured the Wike-led government of the UK’s support  to enable it to empower Rivers people through  the implementation of projects with direct bearing on lives.  (NAN)
AZU/JCE
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Edited by Chukwudi Ekezie