Category: News

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has donated food items and hospital equipment to Imo Government to help fight the scourge of the new coronavirus pandemic in the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the food items donated include 1,078 bags of rice, 305 bags of beans, 288 bags of garri (cassava flakes), 1,941 cartoons of Indamine noddle, 95 cans (25 litres) of palm oil.

The hospital equipment include 2,200 examination gloves, 600 cartoons of syringes, infrared thermometer, six oxygen mask, ventilators, six ICU beds and sanitary materials among others.

Presenting the items to the state government on Tuesday in Owerri, the NDDC Acting Managing Director, Prof. Kemebradikumo Pondei, said the commission was aware of the socio-economic challenges posed by the pandemic.

Pondei, who was represented by a director, Tony Okanne, explained that that was why the commission has committed funds to aid the fight against the disease across the region.

He said that the programme fell under the commission’s Emergency Support for Health and Social Programme.

He said that the major constraint in the active fight against the dreaded virus was the generally poor state of health facilities in the country.

According to him, the donation was part of the NDDC’s way of assisting the state government in the fight against the pandemic.

“It is helping to initiate sensitisation and campaign on the prevention and transmission of coronavirus disease in the region,’’ the managing director said.

He added that the commission, as an interventionist agency, also has the mandate to intervene in the health sector by ensuring the well-being of Niger Delta residents.

“NDDC is desirous, at all times, to support the government and people of the Niger Delta region in the area of quality health care delivery.’’

Receiving the items on behalf of the state government, the Chief of Staff to the governor, Mr Nnamdi Anyaehie, appreciated the NDDC for the gesture.

He promised that the items would be put to good use in line with the efforts of the government to contend the effects of the disease in the state.

He also sought for the continued support from the commission in the policies and programmes of the state government. (NAN)

The Wife of the Oyo State Governor, Mrs Tamunominini Makinde, has called for stiffer laws that will protect the girl-child against rape and other forms of sexual violence.

Mr Sunday Ogundare, the Media Officer to the governor’s wife, in a statement on Tuesday in Ibadan, said that Makinde made the call on the occasion of her 48th birthday.

“It is a good thing to remember the day we were born as the word of God says that we should number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

“Birthday celebration is not just a day to dine and wine with loved ones alone, but a day to remember the Creator and move closer to Him.

“Being a living to witness another year is a great privilege to set  new goals that will benefit people within the state such as women, children and less privileged among others as it is one of the reasons we live.

“I, therefore, enjoin the legislative arms of government to lay more emphasis on the bills that protect women and the girl child as the issue of rape is now rampant in the state,” she said

Makinde also advised women to be disciplined and modest.

“You will be addressed the way you are dressed,” she said. (NAN)

Akure, June 9, 2020 (NAN) The Ondo State Security Network Agency, Operation Amotekun, has announced the commencement of its recruitment.

Chief Adetunji Olu-Adeleye, Amotekun Corps Commandant in the state, who made this known on Tuesday in Akure, said the recruitment form would attract no charges.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Amotekun is a security outfit based in all the six South West states and aimed at curbing insecurity in the region.

Olu-Adeleye advised interested indigenes between ages  18 and 70 years, with minimum qualification of primary school certificate,  to apply for employment.

According to him, the deadline for the form to be downloaded via www.ondoamotekun.org.ng is June 19. (NAN)

Ibadan, June 9, 2020(NAN) Chief Akin Oke, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Chairman in Oyo State, has described the death of his predecessor,  Samuel Farinu, as a great loss.

Oke, who led members of the state APC executives to the home of the deceased in Oyo town on Tuesday,  described late Farinu as a strong pillar of progressives loyal to the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo,

He said Farinu worked with others to facilitate good governance as well as progressive ideology.

” We received the news of the death of Baba Farinu with a great shock because we would have loved to continue deriving maximum benefits from his wealth of experience, wisdom and guidance.

“Baba Farinu is a thorough-bred progressive politician. We found succour in the fact that he died a fulfilled man at the ripe age of 93 years.

“Chief Farinu took us through the thick and thin as progressive politicians in those years when some anti-democratic forces confined us to the dustbin of opposition in the state and the country at large,” he said.

The APC chairman, who emerged the late Farinu’s successor in 2010, said the deceased never abandoned the progressive family.

According to him, Farinu was always there for consultation and support up till the moment he breathed his last.

“But for the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, we would have been here in multitude from across the state to underscore the fact that Baba Farinu is valued as our father and leader even in death,” Oke said.

In her response, the widow, Mrs Adetola Farinu, thanked the delegation for the condolence visit.

Mrs Farinu, who spoke through Mrs Bola Ekundayo, promised to reach out to the visiting delegation on the comprehensive burial programme for the deceased as soon as the family met and decided on it.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the late Farinu, the pioneer Chairman of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Oyo State, died on June 4 at 93 years.

NAN reports that the delegation later visited the homes of Chief Akin Ojebode and High Chief Solomon Akindele to register the party’s condolences. (NAN)

Abuja, June 9, 2020 (NAN) The Commissioner of Police Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command, Bala Ciroma, on Tuesday promised free movement of food and agricultural inputs across the territory during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ciroma gave the assurance at the inaugural meeting of the Joint Technical Task Team on the Emergency Response to COVID-19 on the Challenges of Free Movement of Food and Agricultural Inputs in the FCT.

He made the promise in a statement by Mr Emmanuel Ogbeche, the Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists, (NUJ) FCT Council, who is also a member of the team.

Ciroma who was represented by Mr Sunday Babaji, Deputy Commissioner Operations, urged members of the task force to see their membership as a call to national service during the COVID-19 crisis.

“I assure the government that the police in the FCT alongside other security agencies will ensure the free movement of food and agricultural inputs so as to guarantee food security.

“All Divisional Police headquarters have been mobilised to ensure that all those transporting foodstuff and other agricultural essentials are given priority on the road,” Ciroma said.

He, however, warned motorists against transporting contraband with food and agricultural inputs as anyone caught would face the full weight of the law.

Ciroma said the joint task force was set up by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

He said the team would work with relevant agencies in the states and FCT to develop a window that would facilitate unhindered movement of food, livestock and agricultural inputs without compromising the security and health of the nation.

“The team will also issue out clear instructions to all the security personnel in the three internal security outfits; police, civil defence and the army, on the need to allow the free and unhindered movement of foodstuff, livestock and agriculture inputs to all parts of Nigeria,” he said.

Other members  of the team include Mr Ogboje Jairus, Assistant Commandant, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Yunusa Halidu of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, and Yusuf Alabi representing the National Union of Road Transport Workers.

Others are Alhaji A. Umar of the National Association of Road Transport Owners, and Alhaji M.G. Abdulrahman representing Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development who serves as secretary.(NAN)

The Centre for Citizens with Disability (CCD) says it will conduct a survey to track the distribution of palliatives amongst its members in Kaduna and Kano States.

The Director of the centre, Mr David Anyaele, said this on Tuesday at a virtual training conducted for its members in the two states.

Anyaele explained that the centre has the mandate of promoting human rights, demanding accountability and transparency, fighting corruption as well as fighting discrimination.

According to him, the centre will evolve a strategy to monitor the distribution of palliatives among its members in the two states.

He said that the centre used interpreters to ease communication and enable its members to take part in the survey.

While speaking on tools to be used in the survey, a consultant with the centre, Mr Godwin Unumeri, cautioned members on how to identify false information in order to abstain from gathering fake and false data during the survey.

Unumeri said the survey will be conducted soon, but he did not give a specific date.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN reports that CCD is an organisation of, and for persons with disabilities that works to educate, support and empower persons with disabilities and their families to maximise their potentials.

Established in 2002 in Lagos, CCD works to promote independent living, human rights and social inclusion of persons with disabilities in development efforts.

It was incorporated with the Corporate Affairs Commission Abuja as a charity organisation and it is recognised by Federal and States Ministries, Departments and Agencies in Nigeria as a credible NGO working on disability matters. (NAN)