NAN-HG-6
Eye
By Martha Agas
Jos, Sept. 9, 2016 (NAN) A National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, Dr Sam Eze has organised free eye checks, counselling, consultation and free glasses to Dogon Karfe community in Jos North L0cal Government Area.

The Corps member, who conducted the exercise as part of his community development service on Friday in Jos, said his project was tagged: ‘Better Vision.`

He noted that majority of the beneficiaries were the less privileged in the society, who can hardly provide their basic needs, thus the objective of the exercise to cushion the financial responsibility of their medical bills.

According to him, the exercise is targeted at treating a minimum of 150 people in the community.

“Most of the eye defect patients, who come to the Plateau Specialist Hospital where I serve, are obviously the less privileged in the society.

“Most of them feel that coming to the hospital for mere itching or discharge is a luxury and time wasting.

“The itches they normally ignore may be symptoms of eye diseases like cataract and glaucoma among others, which may become complicated before they visit the hospital,’’ he said.

He said that some eye ailments like glaucoma were peculiar in the North because of their environment, while cataract was most prevalent with the elderly.

Eze, who is a batch B, stream one corps member, explained that not all cases may be addressed, as the eye check was a hatchery for relief and unresolved cases would be referred to the appropriate quarters.

In his remarks, Mr Ibrahim Lawal, the Community Leader of Dogon Karfe commended Eze for his kind gesture.

He urged the NYSC to support them, since some of them were using their resources and seeking sponsorship to make such kind gesture feasible.

Lawal said the project of the corps member has exposed the area to the public domain where other needs like water supply, power and accessible roads can be addressed by individuals, government and organisations.

Mrs Ada Ellawule, an NYSC Inspector in the Local Government, advised community leaders to create the enabling environment for the corps members to embark on developmental projects, noting that some communities may be hostile and prevent them from executing their projects. (NAN)
Edited by Ifeyinwa Okonkwo/Felix Ajide

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Xi thanks nation’s teachers, stresses role of education

NAN-F-7
Education
Beijing, Sept. 9, 2016 (Xinhua/NAN)  To mark China’s 32nd Teachers’ Day, which falls on Sept. 10 every year, President Xi Jinping on Friday took a trip down memory lane and visited his old school.

He took the opportunity of Teachers’ Day to extend his appreciation to the country’s educators for their diligence and commitment.

Xi attended Beijing Bayi School, Haidian District, during his elementary and junior high school years. During his visit he commented on the school’s dynamic, inspirational environment and remarked on the many positive changes since his time as a student.

Education determines our lives today, and our future, he said, adding that educational reform will play a fundamental and guiding role in China’s wider development story.

During his visit, Xi was shown the library and viewed exhibitions on the school’s history and defense education.

The school also shared some archive photographs taken of Xi when he was a student. He said he cherished these formative years and remembered his lessons and fellow students fondly.

As one of Beijing’s renowned schools, Bayi places a lot of focus on the sciences as a gateway to encouraging creativity and imagination.

Xi said children must be equipped with the fundamental skills of creative thinking and practical ability.

The president also talked with a group of pupils who were playing football and posed for photos with them. An avid supporter of soccer in education, Xi encouraged the students to aspire to be excellent soccer players.

While touring some of the school’s older buildings, he also met with some of his former teachers, and he took the opportunity to thank them for all they did for him and wished them happy, healthy lives.

Xi also talked with faculty members and students about school management, education and their dreams and aspirations.

The importance of knowledge and talent cannot be underestimated, Xi said, and education must continue to be improved.

Moreover, he said, the teaching of ideology, ethics and socialist core values should be reinforced so that students leave the education system as confident, dignified, independent members of society.

The benefits of development in education must be made available to all Chinese, he added.

To this end, he pledged greater support across the whole education system, from kindergarten to high school.

The distribution of resources should be optimized so that there is no difference in education quality between schools in cities and rural areas.

Funding in revolutionary bases, ethnic, remote and impoverished areas needs to be increased and education should be part of the ongoing poverty-relief campaign.

“We must stop poverty from being passed on to future generations. Every child should be confident in themselves and their future,” he said.

Xi called on teachers to instill in their students a love of the motherland, the people, and the Communist Party of China.

Meanwhile, Party committees and governments at all levels should create suitable conditions so that teachers are “content and enthusiastic,” Xi said.

Elementary and high school students are the future of China, Xi said.

Students should strive to be a person of “pure heart, sound personality, and integrity,” and “educated, compassionate and ready to take on responsibilities,” Xi said.

Xi urged Party committees and governments at all levels to make education a priority, and deepen educational reforms. (Xinhua/NAN)

Edited by Julius Enehikhuere
======================

NAN-DS-11

Patrol

Kano, Sept. 9, 2016 (NAN) The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) said it had deployed 700 personnel for special patrol in Kano metropolis during the Sallah.

The Relations Officer of the commission in the state, Mr Kabiru Daura, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday.

Daura said the personnel, comprising 300 regular and 400 special marshals, would be deployed in various praying grounds and other strategic places to ensure free flow of traffic during the period.

According to him, no fewer than 14 patrol vehicles, one tow truck and two ambulances have also be deployed.

He said that during the patrol, special attention would be given to cases of overloading, use of cell phones while driving, under-age drivers as well as driving against traffic.

Daura warned motorists against recklessness, saying that anyone caught violating traffic rules would be sanctioned in accordance with the laws.

He specifically advised tricycle operators against violation of traffic rules and regulations before, during and after the celebrations and advised parents to monitor their children. (NAN)

MTM/JEY/OPI

(Edited by Johnson Eyiangho and Olisa Ifeajika)

NAN-H-50
UNGA
By Aregbesola Isaac

Abuja, Sept. 9, 2016 (NAN) President Muhammadu Buhari will lead Nigeria’s delegates to the 71^st  UN  General Assembly (UNGA) scheduled to begin at the UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama, has said.

Onyeama, who made the fact known in Abuja on Friday at a news conference, said the president would be discussing series of issues which had direct impact on Nigeria.

He said the president would, among others, set the record straight on the issue of human rights violation and  sign the Paris Agreement on Climate.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that at the Paris Climate Conference (COP21) held in December 2015, 195 countries adopted the first-ever universal, legally binding global climate deal.

The agreement sets out a global action plan to put the world on track to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to 2°C.

The agreement is due to enter into force in 2020.

Onyeama said that the president signing the agreement  would send a signal to the world that Nigeria was serious with it and noted that China and the U.S. had already signed it.

He said that the UNGA conference was a unique one where Mr President had opportunity to meet world leaders and build on the country’s reputation.

“It is one unique conference where world leaders assemble and address issues pre-occupying their minds, it is a wonderful opportunity for the president to build on his reputation.

“President Buhari is well regarded by the world leaders and it will give him opportunity to reconnect and engage them on various issues.

“He needs world leaders’ support in the areas of economy, security, anti-corruption and governance. He will use the opportunity to push for Nigeria’s interest at the UN,” the minister said.

He said that the president would also use the opportunity to look for foreign markets for Nigerian’s products and garner support for the economy.

Onyeama said that the president would also use the opportunity to canvass for the repatriation of Nigeria’s  stolen money in foreign banks.

“Mr President will use the opportunity to canvass for support for the recharge of Lake Chad.

“` There will be a discussion on Lake Chad Basin and how to recharge the lake through Central Africa which will cost about 15 billion dollars.

“Mr President will engage and push for investors on the project. He will be looking at Public, Private Partnership to mobilise that kind of funding for Lake Chad.

“Such investment will have direct impact on at least five million people,” he said.

According to Onyeama, there will also be a discussion on one vision, one Africa where all African nations can  have a voice on issues that have direct impact on the continent.

He said the EU would be putting 31 billion euros on the table to address certain issues affecting Middle East and part of Africa.

He said that Nigeria was the only one invited for the meeting to look into how to spend the money, adding that the forum would give Nigeria opportunity to access the fund. (NAN)

IAA/DE/JCE

======

(Edited by Dorcas Jonah/ Chukwudi Ekezie)

U.S. remembers Sept 11, calls for commitment against terrorism

NAN-H-49
Terrorism
By Aregbesola Isaac
Abuja, Sept. 9, 2016 (NAN) As Americans marks the 15th anniversary of one of the most tragic days in their history, U.S. has called on other nations around the world to renew commitment against terrorism.

A statement from the information Unit of the U.S. Embassy on Friday, called for strategic efforts to defeat terrorism and promote peace across the universe.

“On that faithful day, terrorists staged attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon and were only prevented from completing another attack by the heroism of the passengers on United Flight 93.

“We recall the events 15 years ago; let us renew our commitment to do all that we can, wherever we may be, to honour the victims of those attacks.

“As well as the others who have been harmed by terrorism in the years since September 11, 2001.We must defeat terrorists and all that they represent.

“And at the same time, work tirelessly to promote dialogue, peace, and reconciliation in order to resolve the complex problems that we face in an interdependent world,” it stated.

It noted with concern that tragic events throughout the world have shown the ongoing horrific impact of terrorism in Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, France, Bangladesh, Turkey, and Belgium, among many other countries.

According to the statement, far too many families around the globe have experienced pain and loss as a result of terrorism.

“It is clear that we all must stand together and work to defeat this scourge,” it stated. (NAN)

Edited by Julius Enehikhuere
=====================

NAN-H-48

By Olaitan Idris

Property

Lagos, Sept. 9, 2016 (NAN) A driver, Michael Anifowoshe, who with Oyinfoladara Ariyo, aide to his employer, allegedly stole property worth N53 million, were on Friday granted N2.5 million bail each by a Lagos court.
The Yaba Chief Magistrates’ Court also ordered that the accused should provide two sureties each as part of the bail condition.
The Magistrate, Mr P.A. Ojo, directed that the sureties must show evidence of tax payment to the Lagos State Government.
The accused, with unknown addresses are facing a three-count charge of conspiracy, stealing and abduction.
The property, including cash, allegedly stolen by the two men, were said to belong to their employer.

The prosecutor, Insp. Roman Unuigbe, told the court that the accused and some others still at large committed the offences on May 23 at 29B, Tokunbo Macaulay Street, Magodo Phase 11, Lagos.
He said the accused stole their employer’s gold and diamond jewelleries worth N40 million, 50, 000 dollars (about N10 million) and N3 million cash, all amounting to N53million.
Unuigbe said when the owner of the property (name withheld), a female, got home on the day of the incident, she discovered that her apartment had been raided and she immediately reported the matter to the police.
He said that during investigation, it was discovered that the accused also abducted one Elizabeth to an unknown destination.
The offences, according to him, contravened Sections 267, 285 (7), and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The magistrate adjourned the case till Oct. 17. (NAN)
IOI/EOB/OPI

(Edited by Edith Bolokor and Olisa Ifeajika)

Eid El-Kabir: Police deploy personnel to strategic places in Adamawa

NAN-DS-10

Security

Yola, Sept. 9, 2016 ( NAN) The Adamawa Police Command on Friday said it had deployed security personnel to praying ground, markets and other strategic places across the state to ensure hitch-free Eid El-Kabir.

Alhaji Muhammed Gazzali, the state Commissioner of Police, made this known in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yola.

Gazzali said that the development was part of precautionary measures to ensure hitch-free Eid El-Kabir in the state.

“As part of our responsibility, the command has deployed a significant number of uniform and plain clothes personnel to strategic places to monitor and ensure peaceful Sallah across the state,” Gazzali said.

He maintained that the command would never give chance to any group or individual to threaten the peaceful atmosphere been enjoyed by the people of the state.

He warned that the command was ever ready to deal with any element or action capable of breaching peace of the state.

The commissioner, however, appealed to the general public to give maximum cooperation to the police and report any strange character to the nearest security post. (NAN)
Edited by Felix Ajide

==============

UN says U.S.-Russia talks on Syria crucial as aid stops rolling in

NAN-F-6
Aid
Geneva, Sept. 9, 2016 (Reuters /NAN) The Syrian government has effectively stopped aid convoys this month and the besieged city of Aleppo is close to running out of fuel, making U.S.-Russian peace talks in Geneva on Friday even more urgent, the United Nations  has said.

“Convoys are not rolling at the moment in Syria,” the U.N. humanitarian chief told reporters in Geneva, although an air bridge to the Kurdish-controlled northeastern city of Hasaka has continued operating, and there have been a handful of evacuations from the besieged towns of Foua and Madaya.

Syria’s government vets UN aid plans on a monthly basis, and its late and partial approval of the programme for this month meant no aid had yet gone in, Stephen O’Brien said.

“We are on Sept 9, and the supplies under the September plan have not yet started.”

As he spoke, the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were meeting nearby for a third time in as many weeks to clinch a nationwide ceasefire deal.

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura, with de O’Brien, said the talks were “addressing complex, delicate and difficult issues. “The conclusions could make, lets’s be frank, a major difference,” he said.

Helping around 250,000 people besieged in eastern Aleppo, where a battle for control has escalated in the past month, was becoming urgent, he said.

“There is a growing concern about eastern Aleppo: the issue about food, the issue about the possibility that within perhaps the next few days it will turn out to be dark because there is no fuel, problems of water.”

Opposition groups say Russia, which co-sponsors the U.N. peace process, is part of the problem and not the solution, because it has provided strong air support for fighters loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“We ask any party which has influence on any of the warring parties to ensure that they recognize that the demand for humanitarian access is paramount and rises above all the other vested interests,” O’Brien said. (Reuters/NAN)

Edited by Julius Enehikhuere
======================

Edo guber polls: APC regrets postponement, – Ojezua

NAN-H-48

Postponement

Benin, Sept. 9, 2016 (NAN) The Edo chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Friday  said it regretted the postponement of the state governorship election to Sept. 28.

Mr Anselm Ojezua, Edo APC Chairman, made this known at a press conference in Benin.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday postponed the election earlier scheduled to hold on Sept. 10.

The commission cited security reasons for the postponement. The commission had initially insisted that there would be no shift in the election date.

Ojezua claimed that INEC did not consult critical stakeholders before announcing the postponement of the election.

He regretted that political parties had spent much time and huge resources in electioneering campaigns in the past weeks.

“First, the shift in the date for the election was announced without due consultation with critical stakeholders which include the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“We believe that the timing and mode of communication by security agencies could have been better handled by having regards to the very hard work and huge resources deployed towards the election by all concerned.

“On our part, we have traversed the nooks and crannies of the state in the course of our electioneering campaigns, and we have been able to effectively market our candidates and our manifesto.

“Our members have been fully sensitized and mobilized in readiness for the election, culminating in our final campaign at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium on Sept. 6, which recorded the highest level of mobilization ever witnessed in that facility.

“It will, therefore, be fair to admit that the decision has adversely affected us somewhat.

“We are obliged to defer to the decision of INEC particularly when ”security threats” have been cited as the reason for the postponement.

“Although we do not have the details from the security agencies, we have in the past drawn attention to the influx of militants into Edo from neighbouring states during the Continuous Voters Registration exercise.

“As a matter of fact, some of them were arrested at Ologbo in Ikpoba Okha L.G.A., and charged to Court, but a host of others made it without detection.

“Those ones must be lurking around various locations within our state even as we speak.

“Data capturing machines were found to have been given to unauthorized persons to carry out illegal registration. A case in point is that of Alhaji Nakowa, a known PDP chieftain in Etsako Central.

“He was arrested with some unscrupulous INEC staff while engaged in illegal registration in a private residence in the middle of the night.

“All these, with the reported threat by the Governor of Rivers State, Mr Nyesom Nwike, to the effect that the APC people should go and write their will, should be a source of concern to any right thinking person.

“You recall that the last time the same man issued the same threat in Port Harcourt, several people lost their lives including youth corps members who had been deployed to assist in the exercise in that State.

“The postponement, therefore, provides an opportunity for security agencies to address these concerns in addition to whatever other threats they may have discovered,” he stated.

Ojezua urged  APC supporters to remain calm but vigilant. (NAN)

ESI/KOO/ESAN/IGO
==============

(Edited by Abiodun Esan and Conrolled by Ijeoma Popoola)

Dozens held as teachers protest suspensions in Turkey’s southeast, union says

NAN-F-5
Protest
Turkey, Sept. 9, 2016 (Reuters/NAN) Turkish police detained dozens of people and used water cannon on Friday to disperse several hundred teachers demonstrating against their suspension from classrooms in the largely Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, union sources said Friday.

Brawls erupted and police pushed back crowds chanting “shoulder to shoulder against fascism” after Turkish authorities suspended more than 11,000 teachers on Thursday over alleged links with the Kurdish militants.

A further 418 teachers were also suspended from duty in the predominantly Kurdish eastern province of Tunceli on Friday. Several hundred teachers gathered in front of the education ministry’s provincial building to protest.

“This is an attack on our unionised struggle,” Suleyman Guler, the provincial head of the education union, Egitim-Sen, told journalists. Guler was also suspended from work.

“It is not possible to accept this decision. There is neither a crime here nor a criminal. We call for the immediate halt of this move,” he said.

The suspensions were part of the government’s campaign against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the mainly Kurdish southeast.

It comes as Ankara also pushes ahead with a purge of tens of thousands of supporters of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Turkey accuses of orchestrating an attempted coup in July.

Gulen denies any involvement.

The scope of that crackdown has raised concern among rights groups and Turkey’s Western allies, who fear President Tayyip Erdogan is using the failed coup as pretext to curtail dissent.

The anti-PKK campaign is Turkey’s largest ever against the group, and the removal of civil servants linked to the PKK is a key part of the fight, Erdogan said on Thursday.

Demonstrations have been banned across Diyarbakir province since mid-August during the state of emergency declared after the failed coup.

On Friday, the Diyarbakir governor’s office also imposed a curfew in more than a dozen neighbourhoods across three districts, as security operations were planned against Kurdish militants in the region. (Reuters/ NAN)

Edited by Julius Enehikhuere
======================