File Photo Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), on Thursday, dismissed alleged payment of N151million to a firm for a road rehabilitated by the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Osun State. Fashola in his submission before the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, probing the allegation, said the claim by the church was untrue. He said the 15-kilometer road was awarded to Messrs Cartil Construction Nigeria Limited at the cost of N662.7million by the Federal Government in 2011. He said the Ministry paid N99million as 15% mobilisation fee and N52million to the contractor after the firm achieved 26.2 per cent of work done on the road in March and December 2011, respectively. He insisted that the award of the contract and the subsequent p...
The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has said that Nigeria’s victory in its battle against insecurity is around the corner. Pastor Adeboye, who made the declaration when he paid a courtesy call on Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai at Sir Kashim Ibrahim House on Tuesday, told the governor that he is praying for him, Kaduna State and the country at large. The General Overseer was in Kaduna to pray for the security and peace in the state following abduction of some of his church members and their eventual release by bandits a few weeks ago. The clergyman, who said that he has known the governor for many years, described him as a tender-hearted man. ‘We know that you have a problem that only God can solve. The problem is far beyond the ...
Gov. Nasir El-rufai of Kaduna State says bandits terrorising Nigeria have lost their rights to life under the constitution and must be wiped out. El-rufai made this known during a town hall meeting on national security organised by the Ministry of Information and Culture held in Kaduna with theme:”Setting Benchmark for Enhanced and National Unity in Nigeria”. ”The bandits are at war with Nigeria and there is no other way to approach the current insurgency but for security forces to take the war to the bandits and recover forests where they are occupying. “The security agencies mostly react to cases of banditry and abduction, we are in a war with these terrorist challenging the sovereignty of the Nigerian state. “Our security forces must collaborate to take the war to the bandits and terror...
Baerbel Jaja, Head, Government Special School, Lafia, Nasarawa State, says corporal and psychological punishments should not be meted to special needs persons. Jaja told newsmen in Lafia on Friday that corporal and psychological punishments hamper the overall functionality and the development of such persons. She said: “If you flog an autistic child, that’s the end of the development for that child. “You have killed his spirit. “Even for a normal child, if you keep flogging him, you have actually killed the spirit of that child and that will make him not to function well. “If an autistic child does not function the way you want, you have to be patient with him. “You cannot use force on any of this special need kids because it doesn’t work; it will rather close up the little you have achiev...
File Photo Students of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Oyo State, have threatened to publicly protest continuous extortions by lecturers as well as the recurrent mass failures typifying their examinations, saying their future was hanging in the balance. A source told newsmen that the students are from the Urban and Regional Planning Department. Through their association, the aggrieved students this week raised a petition to the school management to look into the anomalies of their lecturers and take action, otherwise they would lead a public protest. In a copy of their petition titled, “Lamentations of the Urban and Regional Planning Students,” the students decried the harsh learning conditions in the department and the resultant mass failure and extra academic years that students suffered They s...
Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia on Tuesday expressed the readiness of his administration to facilitate the delivery of more road projects in Aba and the state. Ikpeazu said this while inspecting the ongoing reconstruction of Port Harcourt Road, as part of the resumption of a statewide-project-inspection programme, tagged “Kinetic Abia Project Tour” in Aba. He said that the government would deliver high quality roads as part of its efforts to rebuild Aba and improve the wellbeing of its residents. He appealed to the residents to support the government to achieve its goal of transforming Aba by assisting the contractors handling the projects and protecting the infrastructure. The governor said that he would remain irrevocably committed to changing the narratives of Aba in the area of infrastruct...
The deputy speaker of the house of representatives, Idris Wase, has questioned the eligibility of Nigerians living abroad to submit petitions. Wase, who presided over plenary on Thursday, rejected a petition from “Mutual Union of the Tiv in America,” saying Nigerians in the diaspora do not “really know” the situation in Nigeria and thus are not eligible to file petitions. The petition, presented by Mark Terseer Gbillah, lawmaker representing Benue Gwer east/Gwer west federal constituency, accused the federal government of not resettling the Tiv people displaced from their ancestral land through various attacks. Thousands of Nigerians were reportedly displaced in the north-central region as a result of the farmer-herders crises. “I have a petition from the mutual union of the Tiv in America...
Pool Photo The Lagos State Chapter of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) on Monday said the stay-off-road action by commercial buses on the Lagos-Badagry Road was unnecessary. The Secretary of the chapter, Abdulrahman Amusan, told newsmen that the N800 ticket imposed on commercial buses in the state was for tax purposes. Newsmen report that the commercial bus drivers had on March 1, embarked on what they called “Cease Commuter Operation” on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway – from Badagry to Mile 2 – following what they termed an unbearable increment in ticketing and brutality by RTEAN. The drivers were still off the expressway while passengers remained stranded at various bus stops. It is still not certain when they will return to the roads. They claim that both the RT...