NAN-H-85
Training
By Desmond Ejibas
Elele (Rivers), Sept. 19, 2016 (NAN) The Federal Government  is to train and empower 11, 500 Niger Delta ex-agitators in agriculture as part of moves to diversify the economy, an official has said.

Retired Brig.-Gen. Paul Boro, the Special Adviser to the President and Coordinator of the Amnesty Programme (PAP), made the disclosure  at the inauguration of some poultry farms in Rivers.

The farms are located in Elele, Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state.

“PAP has resorted to engaging ex-agitators in agric in line with the Federal Government Green Alternative Initiative which is designed to diversify and revamp the economy,’’ he said

Boro said that the training for the ex-agitators would commence soon and would be concluded before the end of the year.

“The Presidential Amnesty Programme, which started in 2009 with 30,000 ex-agitators has become a huge success and factor in stabilising the Niger Delta region.

“Government is committed to the sustainability of the Amnesty Programme by engaging the ex-agitators in agriculture, among other sectors, to enable them to be empowered.

“Out of 30,000 ex-agitators captured in PAP; 18,260 have been trained in various vocational trainings.

“About 3,568 have been trained and empowered to becoming aircraft engineers, pilots, farmers, information technology experts, while some are working in the oil and gas sector.

“The PAP is looking at training 11,500 ex-agitators to be trained and empowered on usage of scientific method in agric before the end of 2016,’’ he said.

Boro said that some 500 ex-agitators had been trained in agriculture out of whom  271 had been fully empowered.

He said that those criticising PAP were those who had not yet been captured in the programme but that discussions were ongoing to capture such people.

According to him, President Buhari Muhammed is  committed to funding of the programme in spite of the current economic challenges  facing the country.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that three ex-agitators out of 50 in Elele community received three poultry farms.

The Amnesty Programme was introduced by government to resettle angry youths in the Niger Delta Region fighting the destruction of their environment.   (NAN)
DES/FAT/JCE
===========

(Edited by Fatima Sule/Chukwudi Ekezie)

NAN-H-84

Judges

By Wandoo Sombo

Abuja, Sept. 19, 2016 (NAN) The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, has charged judges of the court to take decisions they could defend before God.

Auta gave the charge on Monday in Abuja while declaring the 2016/2017 legal year of the Federal High Court open.

“You do not have to know all the law, but your decision must be one that even the party, who lost would have cause to appreciate your intellect, scholarship and call-to-duty.

“The work of a judge the world over is not easy; it is even more difficult in our society where cases are prosecuted on the pages of newspapers.

“However, the work of a judge is the highest position of trust and confidence that God can give to any human being, trust that you sit to judge your fellow human beings and their activities.

“I therefore urge my brother judges to search their conscience before taking any judicial decision. You must take decisions that you can defend before God,” he said.

The chief judge blamed the numerous controversies that confronted the court, leading to misrepresentation and misinterpretation, on lawyers who misled judges.

He said that it was an offence for any lawyer to rush to another court of coordinate jurisdiction in a different division to file a case which was pending in another court.

He called on the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to sanction any lawyer found misleading judges in this way as they were causing confusion in the judiciary.

“While a case is pending in one court, a lawyer will rush to another court of coordinate jurisdiction and file the same case without the knowledge of the judges.

“We will take this very seriously and even discuss it during our conference because it is an offence and it is not good for the administration of criminal justice.’’

Auta revealed that out of the 16,680 cases filed from September, 2015 to June, 2016, 13,864 cases had been disposed of by the judges.

According to him, if the trend was continued, the issue of bloated cause lists would be a thing of the past.

While commending the judges, the judge added that the court was determined to ensure proper welfare of the judges to enhance their performance.

To this effect, he said that all new judges had undergone detailed medical assessment to make them more aware of their medical health conditions.

He added that the health and working conditions of judges were being reviewed.

Auta said that workshops and seminars had been organised with the aim of exposing judges to current developments in law and administration of justice not only in Nigeria but world over.

Earlier, a devotional Christian and Muslim prayer was held at the National Ecumenical Centre and the National Mosque.

At the mosque, the Chief Imam, Sheik Ahmed Onilewura, spoke on the role of religious leaders in the fight against corruption.

He said that corruption was a sin against God and humanity and as such, religious leaders must preach against it.

While noting that the root cause of corruption was poverty, Onilewura called on leaders to evolve empowerment programmes for the unemployed in the society.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Federal High Court was established as Federal Revenue Court in 1973.

It started with only one court and five judges, including the president, in Lagos but now has 37 judicial divisions and 80 serving judges across the country. (NAN)

WS/YMU/OPI

Edited by Olisa Ifeajika

NAN-H-83
Family
By Akeem Abas
Ibadan, Sept. 19, 2016 (NAN)The family of the late Baale of Ibadan land, Aare Obadoke Latoosa, has commended Gov. Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State for naming a proposed Local Council Development Area (LCDA) after the late monarch.

This was contained in a commendation letter sent to the governor and signed by Chief Hakeem Aare-Latoosa, the Mogaji and head of the late Aare-Latoosa Dynasty.

The letter was made available to newsmen in Ibadan on Monday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the late monarch ruled Ibadan land as Baale from 1871 to 1885.

NAN further reports that his son, Shittu Aare-Latoosa, also ruled from 1914 to 1925.

In the letter, Aare-Latoosa said that the historic development of creating new LCDAs and naming one after the family’s progenitor was a right step in the right direction.

Aare-Latoosa pledged the total support and cooperation of the royal family toward the smooth inauguration and administration of the proposed LCDA.

“We use this medium to express our unflinching support to your government and pledge to render all assistance and cooperation required for the establishment and development of our new LCDA,” he said.

NAN reports that Ajimobi had on Aug. 23 announced his administration’s intention to carve out 35 LCDAs from the existing 33 Local Government Areas.

Ajimobi had stated that the creation of LCDAs in the state was to take development closer to the grassroots.

Of the proposed LCDAs, 14 would emerge from Ibadan zone, two from Ibarapa, four from Oyo, seven from Ogbomoso and eight from Oke-Ogun.(NAN)
TAA/OJO
========
(Edited and controlled by Mufutau Ojo)

NAN-H-78

Approval

By Constance Athekame

Abuja, Sept. 19, 2016 (NAN) The Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), Kano has gotten approval from the National Board for Technical Education to operate as an Innovation Enterprise Institution.

This is contained in a statement issued by Mr Tony Ojobo, the Director, Public Affairs of the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) on Monday in Abuja.

Ojobo said that the letter conveying the approval was signed by the Executive Secretary of NBTE, Dr Masudu Kazuare on behalf of the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu.

Ojobo said that the approval took effect from May 3.

He added that the Enterprise Institution would run programmes like National Innovation Diploma for Telecommunication Technology, Multimedia Technology, Networking and system Security, Computer Software Engineering and Computer Hardware Engineering among others.

“The approval, according to NBTE is subject to the institutions strict compliance with the Federal Government’s terms and conditions governing the operations of Innovation Enterprise Institutions.

“Part of the terms contained in the letter is that the approval is subject to DBI admitting not more than one stream of 30 students for each of the programmes.’’

He said that the admission of the students into the approved programmes would commence from 2016/2017 session.

“The approval from the NBTE followed a visitation jointly carried out by the Federal Ministry of Education and NBTE,’’ he said.

Ojobo quoted the Director of DBI, Dr Ike Adindeas as saying that the approval was in the right direction.

According to Ojobo,  DBI is a specialised institution committed to the creation of a knowledge-based information society in Nigeria through human capacity building in Telecommunication and Information as well as Communication Technology.

He said that the institution was established by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in 2004 with its main campus and learning centre in Abuja.

He said that DBI now had regional centres in Lagos, Kano, Enugu, Yola and Asaba.

“The institution’s facilities include well equipped training rooms, multimedia teaching aids, video conference facilities among others. (NAN)

COA/FAT/EEE

===========

Edited by Fatima Sule/Ese E. Ekama

NAN-HE-22
Cost
By Cecilia Ologunagba
Abuja, Sept. 19, 2016 (NAN) The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says it needs N1.2 billion to conduct Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS 5) scheduled to start on Wednesday nationwide.

The Statistician-General, Dr Yemi Kale, made announced this on Monday in Abuja while addressing newsmen at the inauguration MICS 5.

MICS is a household-based survey developed by UNICEF and designed to assess the situation of children and women in the areas of health, education, child protection and HIV/AIDS worldwide.

Kale was represented by Mr Isiaka Olarewaju, the Director in charge of Real Sector and Household Statistics Department in NBS.

He said UNICEF was number one supporter in the execution of the survey, adding that other agencies had also joined in funding the project.

Speaking on the cost on MICS 5 (fifth series), Kale said, “before we got to this level, we did a lot of things in preparation for the survey.

“Last year, we did the compilation and update of the unit of coverage.

“Without mentioning the cost of preparation activities, we have estimated N1.2 billion for data collection right from the cost of training.
“It also includes the trainers and training the field workers up to the data processing level.’’

According to him, objectives of the survey include providing up-to-date information on the situation of children and women in Nigeria.

Kale said that the survey would strengthen national statistical capacity by focusing on data gathering, quality of survey information, statistical tracking and analysis.

“The survey will contribute to the improvement of data and monitoring systems in Nigeria.

“It will strengthen technical expertise in the design, implementation and analysis of such systems.

“It will also serve as baseline for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda and provide statistics to complement and assess the quality of data from recent national surveys.

“Lastly, it will provide statistics to complete and assess the quality of date from other national surveys,’’ the statistician-general said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that MICS 5 will cover all the 36 states and FCT with 960 selected households to be interviewed in each state.

The MICS 5 will be completed on Dec. 16. (NAN)
CIA/GOK/IA
(Edited by Olagoke Olatoye/Idris Abdulrahman)
====================

Audio Attached

NBS, UNICEF inaugurate multiple indicator cluster survey

NAN-HE-14

Survey

By Cecilia Ologunagba

Abuja, Sept. 19, 2016 (NAN) The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in collaboration with UNICEF will begin a Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) nation-wide on Wednesday.

MICS is a household-based survey developed by UNICEF and designed to assess the situation of children and women in the areas of health, education, child protection and HIV/AIDS world-wide.

The Statistician-General, Dr Yemi Kale announced this in Abuja while briefing newsmen on the indicators and benefits of the survey.

Kale was represented by Mr Isiaka Olarewaju,  the Director, Real Sector and Household Statistics Department in NBS.

Cue in audio 1

“The survey has a lot of indicators that could be used for planning, policy formulation and programme implementation.

“There are so many indicators that cut across all aspects of social life.

“We have indicators that monitor the progress of children which includes mortality rate, education, development and nutritional status of the children.

“All these things are useful for proper implementation of children’s development in the country.

“We have produced this in the past at every round, we have more indicators suggested by our users and we have included them as they come.

“ So, at the end of the survey, we will be informing Nigerians about the use of those indicators.’’

Cue out audio 1

Kale said that NBS would send enumerators to the field for 92 days, starting from Sept. 21 to administer questionnaires on the selected households for the survey.

He said that MICS 5 (fifth series) would cover all the states of the federation and FCT with 960 selected households to be interviewed in each state.

“MICS can be used as data collection tool in monitoring progress of national goals and global commitments aimed at promoting the welfare of children, including Sustainable development Goals (SDGs).

“In Nigeria, this MICS is the fifth of a series which started in 1995 and has been extended to include questionnaire for individual men and modules such as water quality test.

The statistician-general said that the bureau had introduced new methodologies in conducting the survey to enhance credibility of the results.

Cue in audio 2

“We have now brought some innovations into this round.

“We have stopped now to use paper questionnaires; we are now using what is called CAPI (Computer -Assisted Personal Interview) which measures even the location of data collector at the time of data collection.

“It can remove errors that would have been introduced by human i.e it is difficult now to see any pregnant man in any of our data.’’

 Cue out audio 2

He, however, appealed to respondents to cooperate with data collectors to ensure smooth and error -free survey in their areas.

In his remarks, Denis Jobin, the UNICEF’s Chief, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation as well as Field Coordination, said MICS was a global project of the agency.

Jobin said that the project would build the capacity of State Statistical Agencies that would be supervising the survey.

He said that outcome of the survey could also be used to measure the level of poverty in the country.

NBS is the implementing agency of MICS 5 with technical and financial support from UNICEF.

Other major stakeholders in the implementation of MICS 5 include Ministry of Budget and National Planning, National Population Commission, Federal Ministries of Health, Education, Agriculture and Water Resources (NAN).
CIA/OSA/AFA
Edited by Shittu Obassa/Felix Ajide
==========================

Number of migrant arrivals in Greece rises sharply

NAN-F-8
Migrants
Athens, Sept. 19, 2016 (dpa/NAN) The number of migrants reaching Greece has sharply risen, with at least 374 arriving from Turkey over the weekend, the country’s migration crisis authority said on Monday.

The reason for the rise yet unclear however, local media have speculated smugglers are increasing their numbers ahead of a forecast bad spell of weather.

Greece has previously seen the influx of migrants to its islands drop to a daily average of less than 50 migrants since the EU and Turkey implemented a refugee deal in April.

Nevertheless Greece’s working group for the refugee crisis has reported sudden spikes in migrant numbers.

Migrants who disembark on Greece’s eastern Aegean islands are not allowed onto the mainland.

They must instead wait several months until their asylum applications are accepted or otherwise face deportation to Turkey.

The so-called hotspots set up for the arrival of migrants on Greek islands are overflowing with a total of 12,200 people.

The centres on the islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Leros and Kos are intended to take in 7,450 people. (dpa/NAN)

(Edited by Isaac Aregbesola/Julius Enehikhuere)

NAN-H-71
Commitment
By Olayinka Olawale
Lagos, Sept. 19, 2016 (NAN) The Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board on Monday urged teachers in public primary schools to rededicate themselves to the service of humanity in the new academic session.

The Executive Chairman of the board, Dr Ganiyu Sopeyin, said in a statement in Lagos that teachers needed to redouble their efforts in the best interest of their pupils.

Welcoming the teachers and pupils to schools after the long holiday, Sopeyin said that the present administration had taken many steps to improve the standard of education in the state.

He said that the government would not relent in continued efforts to provide a conducive environment for both teachers and pupils to ensure improved teaching and learning.

Sopeyin urged students, who were successful in the state placement test, to resume at their schools of posting promptly.

He said that the placement lists had been released to Tutor Generals/Permanent Secretaries in all the six Education Districts in the state.

Sopeyin appealed to parents to check names of the wards in their respective districts.

The chairman explained that for school children to be successful in life they must take education very seriously.

According to him, education is a ladder toward attaining success in life.

“At every stage of one’s life, education plays important role; therefore, our wards must be  educated,’’ he said.

The chairman assured teachers of the continuous support of the government toward developing education in the state.

He urged them to reciprocate government’s gesture by being productive in their line of duties. (NAN)
OOG/AIB/AJA
===========

(Edited by Abdulfatah Babatunde and controlled by Adeleye Ajayi)

NAN-HE-21

Shares

Lagos, Sept. 19, 2016 (NAN) Equity transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday reversed to negative trend after appreciating for three consecutive days, with market indicators depreciating by 0.06 per cent.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that market capitalisation depreciated by N6 billion to close at N9.56 trillion against N9.57 trillion achieved on Friday.

Similarly, the All-Share Index recorded depreciation, dropping by 18.55 points or per cent to close at 27,839.93 points compared with 27,858.48 points achieved on Friday.

7UP topped the losers’ chart, dropping by N7.3 to close at N139.15 per share.

Forte oil trailed with a loss of N5.66 to close at N155.35 per share.

Nigerian Breweries shed N1.64 to close at N143.36 per share, while Nestle dipped by N1 to close at N825 per share and PZ Cussons went down by 93k to close at N18.07 per share.

Conversely, GuinnessTotal recorded the highest price gain to lead the gainers’ table, growing by N12.5 to close at N262.5 per share.

Conoil came second with a gain of N3.26 to close at N35.1 per share while MRS appreciated by N1.83 to close at N38.48 per share.

Mobil Oil increased by N1 to close at N171 and UACN up by 78k to close at N21.78 per share.

In spite of the decrease in equities, the volume of shares traded closed higher as a total of 328.203 million shares valued at N2.89 billion were transacted in 3,215 deals.

NAN reports that this was in contrast with the 228.93 million shares worth N2.12 billion traded in 3,617 deals on Friday.

Access Bank drove the turnover volume, accounting for 84.09 million shares valued at N468.62 million.

It was followed by FBN Holdings with a total of 54.15 million worth N166.40 million while UBA sold 38.54 million shares valued at N163.44 million.

Skye Bank traded 38.54 million shares worth N24.98 million and Zenith Bank transacted 21 million shares valued at N303.34 millions. (NAN)

LUC/OPI/OPI

Edited by Olisa Ifeajika

NAN-HE-17
Review
By Bolaji Buhari
Lagos, Sept. 19, 2016 (NAN) Mrs Morenike Babington–Ashaye, an expert in accounting, has urged the Federal Government to urgently review the country’s tax laws, as a measure to overcome the current economic recession.

Babington-Ashaye, who is the Chief Executive Officer, Accer Accounting Services, made this call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday.

She observed that some of the country’s tax laws had already become obsolete and were no longer in consonance with the current economic realities.

The accountant, who said that improved revenue generation was key to overcoming recession, urged the government to come up with sound fiscal policies that could turn around the country’s fortunes.

“It is disappointing that sometimes, we have to wait till the last moment before considering taking certain important economic steps, such as the review of tax laws.

“Taxation is a living subject. It is something that the government has to review every year in line with the prevailing economic situation.

“We are in a recession now and I think the effects of the problem and the pains the people are talking about would have been minimal if we had made our tax laws more responsive.

“The point is that we do not just come up with the yearly budgets; we must debate our tax policies and adjust them to ensure effective implementation.

“That way, any economic shock would have been planned for, and the kind of dire economic situation we are now in can also be mitigated,” she said.

The expert therefore, urged the government to review the tax laws to take the country out of the present economic doldrums.

Babington-Ashaye also suggested wider consultations between critical stakeholders and government authorities on the way forward for the economy.

She also urged government to ensure the effective utilisation of tax resources in order to give value to the masses in form of development projects.

Babington-Ashaye expressed optimism that the country’s economy would be strong once again, if the county could increase local capacities and reduce importation. (NAN)
BHB/JPE/YEMI

Edited by Joseph Edeh

Yemi Idris-Aduloju