Gombe (Nigeria) — Gombe State Pilgrims Welfare Board says it has so far airlifted 1,800 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia since 1st August 2017.
Gombe State leader of the delegation to the 2017 Muslims’ pilgrimage, Haruna Garba, who was briefing journalists said, 6 aircrafts were involved in the movement of the pilgrims to the holy land, adding that, the remaining 300 intending pilgrims would depart this week.
He said essential services that would ensure smooth conduct of the pilgrimage had been put in place by his team and the board, warning that no intending pilgrims should carry banned items in their luggage.
“Prospective pilgrims should remember that they are individually and collectively representing Nigeria and Gombe State in particular and should present themselves as good ambassadors,”
He also advised them to ensure they abide by all the rules and regulations for a successful and acceptable hajj by Allah and urged them to be good ambassadors and prayerful for the state and the county at large while in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
“I urge you to be worthy ambassadors of Gombe State and our great country Nigeria by exhibiting high sense of responsibility and dedication to the Almighty Allah.
“You should pray for peace, unity, and prosperity of Gombe state in particular and the county in general and I urge you not to engage in rioting, demonstration or disobedience or disregard to constituted authorities”, he said.
According to him, the state had secured befitting accommodation with good facilities for the pilgrims in Mecca close to the holy Mosque.
Youth groups present at an inter-party youth dialogue forum in Kaduna, northern Nigeria, have charged young people across the Country to take active participation in electoral and leadership processes instead of allowing themselves to be used as political thugs and praise singers of politicians who use and dump them after winning an election.
This was part of the outcomes reached during the meeting organised by League of Democratic Women (LEADS) in partnership with Actionaid Nigeria, in LEAD’s project of Strengthening Citizen’s Engagement in Electoral Process (SCEEP), held recently.
Participants at the forum identified ignorance, lack of mentorship, finance, religion, ethnicity and poor attitude towards political and electoral activities as some of the major challenges militating against their participations.
They were also of the opinion that as young people, who make up over 60 percent of the country’s population, they have the power to vote and be voted for, as such, it is degrading to be used as instruments of chaos and unrest in the society.
“We are supposed to be defenders of the country’s unity through active involvement in governance and electoral process so that our interest would be represented. We are in the era where there are opportunities, if we don’t grab it, this problem would continue”, Yusuf Kanhu said while coordinating the discussion session during the program.
Executive Director of LEADS – Nigeria, Mrs. Rebecca Sako John, in her remarks described the program as timely, saying the program came at a time the National Assembly have agreed to review the constitution and electoral law to allow young person’s to contest for electoral office.
According to her, if youths are given that opportunity, they have to be ready to take those positions. She said, “For now, it has been those people in the NGO world that are pushing, so now we want the youths to take charge of the whole process.
“If we have the young people left behind, then our democracy would not be complete become their voices might not be heard and their issues might not be well taken care of.”
She however called on the youths to take their role as active citizens very seriously and refuse to be use as thugs by their parties. “They need to see that they have things to contribute than just being thugs. if this people here can go out and take action and also mobilised other young ones to see that they take their role seriously as active citizens, they will begin to contribute to how this country is run.
“Even if they are not elected or appointed, they will begin to engage constructively with those elected or are in government to get their issues on the front burner and be responded to, which is the kind of change we desire to see”, she posited.
In its goodwill message, the Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (KASIECOM) said the Commission is ready to work with all organizations on the democratic process towards good governance.
Speaking on behalf of the Commission, Head of voter education, Mr. John Bulus noted that in election, citizens who are 18 years and above can vote and be voted for; explaining that, they also have a role of ensuring those elected are working to meet their needs by monitoring their performance, and in any case they fail, they have the right to recall them.
The meeting had in attendance youth groups from six local government areas of Kaduna state as well as state’s youth leaders of All Progressive Congress and the People’s Democratic Party.
A federal lawmaker of the All Progressive Congress APC, from Jigawa State, northern Nigeria, Sani Zoro, has observed that in spite of the various agitations in the country, the APC-government has no plan to implement any.
He explained that the various ongoing agitations in the country would soon fizzle out in six months from now.
Zoro who disclosed this in Kaduna on Sunday at a forum with journalists in Kaduna, said agitations emanated due to vacuums created by lack of political activities for so long.
Sani Zoro, who was in Kaduna on fact finding mission and solidity visit to NUJ Kaduna on the recent assault on its members said by the time political activities began to take shape and politicians began to move from South to north and north to south, East and west, the agitations would be consumed.
The former national president of NUJ said, “I strongly believe that agitations, whether restructuring, or Biafra, and others will fizzle out six months from now when political activities take up.
“For people from Niger Delta and South-Western states, restructuring means resource control, and return to regional governance, while Atiku Abubakar led northern agitations means devolution of power from the centre to federating units,” he explained.
Sani said it was not the fault of the politicians, “We found ourselves where we are now, but the military sabotaged our march to democracy in 1966, through misguided and irresponsible coup, and must be blamed for undermining Parliamentary democracy by killing the leaders of the country.”
He said it may sound controversial that he was not in support for Agitations for Biafra and Northern youth on quit notice.
Governor Nasiru Ahmed El-Rufai of Kaduna State has enjoined youth in the state to use their energy, vibrancy and optimism to advance peace, harmony and sustainable development.
He told the youth to take advantage of his policies and interventions in order to build a resilient society where peace and justice reign.
In a message on the International Youth Day, Gov. El-Rufai said, “On this day of the celebration of the World Youth Day, I congratulate the youth of Kaduna State, and I urge them to use all the energy, vibrancy and optimism of youth to advance peace, harmony and sustainable development in our society.”
He noted that the theme, ‘Youth Building Peace’ “The youth play a great role in determining the level of peace enjoyed in a community. This is because the present generation of youth are the largest and comprise the highest number in our history.
“It is evident that most countries bedeviled by armed conflict or upheavals have a high percentage of youth, hence the need for us as a people to invest in the livesof our young persons.
“For us as government in Kaduna State, we have recognized that as agents of change, young persons are critical actors in conflict resolution, prevention and sustaining peace. If the youth are not engaged into profitable ventures, they may become tools in the hands of negative forces.
“That is why our policy and resources are channeled towards youth development. In our effort to build our youth to contribute to our development, we have recruited 2,250 teachers, 2,550 KASTELEA marshals and 1,245 health workers who are all young persons.
“We recognize that government alone cannot engage all the youth, hence we have provided a conducive environment for private sector investments who are already proving their capacity for job creation.
“We are providing intervention funds for Small and Medium Enterprises, especially with the Bank of Industry and the Bank of Agriculture. We are also providing layers of training for our youth to increase their capacity for job-creation and employability.
“Our graduate entrepreneurs can acquire much needed business skills and access to finance through the KADSTEP, the Kaduna Start-up Entrepreneurship Programme.
“Young people are being given training in construction industry trades through KADAT, the Kaduna Artisan Training Academy. We are also funding practical training for tradesmen in electrical technology and electronics through the Kaduna Electrical, Electronics and Energy Academy, KADEEEA.”
The President of Fertilizer Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria, FEPSAN, Thomas Etuh, says Nigerian government through the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI), is working assiduously to fish out perpetrators of fertilizer adulteration in the country.
He explained that so far, some arrests have been made on alleged perpetrators of fertilizer adulteration by the police and those arrested would soon be paraded.
Speaking weekend in Kaduna, northern Nigeria, he said the federal government has set up a target for the Presidential Committee to produce and distribute one million metric tonnes of fertilizer for this current season.
According to the President who was represented by Valentine Nwandu, “One thing we discover when we started this program is that we do not have enough strategic storage facilities and most of the plant are not designed to store finish goods and have very little storage for raw materials.
“The adulteration has not affected any production but it affected the famers as they are at the receiving end because from their little investment, it could be disastrous so we are taking it serious hence the reason we involved the Nigerian police force and other security agencies to bring to book perpetrators of fertilizer adulteration.”
On the commencement of producing fertilizer of soil and crop types, he said, “Now we producing 20-10-10 which happens to be more widely applicable wide range of crops and by next year, we will probably venture into 2 or 3 more areas and then subsequently as blenders acquired the skills and the raw materials are flowing on time, we begin to look into crop and soil specifics.”
Earlier, the Chairman Technical Committee of the PFI and Vice President of the FEPSAN, Saidu G. B. Zakari who spoke on the role of fertilizer dealers/distributors towards ensuring the success of the PFI in Nigeria said, the PFI was conceived by President Muhammadu Buhari in order to address the issues of ensuring that fertilizers was made available to Nigerian farmers at the right time and at affordable costs.
“This followed a meeting President Buhari had with the King of morrocco which is the largest producer of phosphate in the world who agreed to supply Nigeria with MOP and DAP and Nigeria which is now an exporter of UREA will supply the product to local blenders,” he said.
He further disclosed that the PFI had led to the resuscitation of 11 blending plants that were mostly idle before the initiative.
Mr. Zakari urged all stakeholders to put all hands on deck to ensure that the program was successful, adding that, “The success of PFI is the Nigerian success and the success of the Nigerian farmers, it is also the success of fight against hunger and quest for economic growth of the nation.”
One of the recipient of the certificate, Murtala Shehu from Katsina, said the certification would further spur them to discharging their services more effectively.
Gombe (Nigeria)– Non-Academic staff of Federal University Kashere, in Gombe State, northeast have alleged victimization, intimidation, withdrawal of staff buses, water Tanker and non-payment of hazard allowances by the management of the Institute.
The allegation was made in a Union congress report signed by the Chairman, Mustapha Muktar and the Secretary, Sa’idu Abubakar Baba, and made available to newsmen in Gombe on Sunday.
The duo said alledged that the management has denied union members study leave with pay, or work study leave without pay for period of one year, withdrawal of staff buses that use to take their members from Gombe to Kashere daily, promotion, not allowing their member to attend seminars and training workshops.
The Union added that the management has also removed the allowances that have been approved by the University Governing Council on agreement between Federal Government and their Union in 2009, for allowances covering hazards, call/shift of duty and overtime/ responsibility.
They also alleged wrong deduction of money from pioneer staff, who enjoyed first 28-days allowance that was approved by the federal government without any circular from the management, which has grossly affected staff’s July 2017 salaries, where some members collected less than pay and many others have negative account stipulated as monthly salaries.
Speaking to Newsmen on the issue, Vice Chancellor of the University Prof Alhassan Gani, said the Buses and water Tankers were acquired to serve students’ need in the university, the buses was for field trips, excursion and other outdoor activities of the students.
“There is only one water tanker that provides water to university, if and when students and staff offices lack water, there will be serious health and social crises that will be difficult to handle, moreover there are sufficient water tankers in Gombe to provide water to staff residing there.
“The university conditions of service are very clear on how staff can proceed on study leave and any staff that start a study without approval has erred and will be sanctioned, for promotion of deserving staff are guided by our condition of service and number of staff both academic and non-academic have been sponsored to attend seminars and conferences this year are many.”
Prof Gani said, “On the issues of hazard allowance, it is paid to entitled staff from the personnel vote, similarly, the call/shift duty, overtime and responsibility allowances are paid to deserving staff.”
He said the university management periodically interfaces with union executives and the university congregation with the view to carrying all and sundry aboard in the governance of the institution, adding that such forum enables them to receive suggestions comments and commendation and to also discuss issues pertaining to growth and development of the university.
“The issues pointed by the union were discussed at both managerial and council levels and settled since last year, it is really perplexing to hear them resurfacing again.”
“The Act establishing the university does not give room for everybody to be promoted at once, there are processes to be followed.”
He urged the workers to allow peace to reign, return to their duty posts and see reason with management.
Gombe (Nigeria) — The Director, Gombe State Hospital Services in Northeast Nigeria, Dr. James Emmanuel Mahadi, has said that nursing mothers living with HIV can exclusively breastfeed their babies like every woman.
Dr. Mahadi stated this at a round table with stakeholders in health sector in the state, organized by an NGO, Save the Children International to commemorate world breastfeed week in the state.
“The comfort that comes with breast feeding when we look at the healthy component that makes breast milk the best possible start we can give our young ones.
He said that protein; carbohydrates, fat, minerals, water and vitamins were some of the nutritional components in breast milk that enhanced healthy growth in children and breast milk also contained anti-bodies that protected the body from infections.
“Every child should be provided with breast milk because every child has a right to good nutrition and good health.
Dr. Mahadi added that breastfeeding is not a one-woman job and the Mothers need support from their families, health providers, communities, and governments to give their children the healthiest possible start to life, adding that breastfeeding protects children from illness, increases IQ, and creates a strong bond between mother and child.
Also speaking the state Field Manager of the organasation, Altine Lewi, urged mothers to adopt the six months period of exclusive breastfeeding of their new born babies.
She said exclusive breastfeeding would enhance the health of mothers and their children, as well as improve the immune system of the babies against killer diseases.
According the Save the Children leaflet with title ‘how Islam encourages exclusive breastfeeding practice’ written by Malam Kabiru Umar Maru, said Islam recognized the importance of the family and it established rules and guidelines that promote good family practices.
He said that family is built through the level contract of marriage the couple hopes to get children who are the future of the ummah, adding that children require adequate feeding to enable them be more productive and contribute to the society and the early day’s meal are very important to child’s growth.
Malam Maru said that Qur’an encourages the mother to breastfeed her child naturally, “Allah says: the mothers shall give suck to their children for 2 years, for those parents who desire to complete the term of sucking (Al-Bakarah 2:233) this is a command for mothers to breastfeed their children”, he said.
The Scholars also mentioned that one part of breastfeeding is obligatory, which is the yellow substance colostrum that is produced at the beginning of breastfeeding and medically to be of great benefit in building the immune system of the child.
Northeast Coordinator of Women Situation Room Nigeria, WSRN, Philomena Henry has led other women to take part in SIT-OUT campaign against the recent defilement and death of a 14 years old girl.
Briefing newsmen in Kaduna, she said defilement of the girl child necessitated a simultaneous SIT-OUT on the 3rd of August, 2017 across 9 States, namely Lagos, Imo, Enugu, Kaduna, Benue, Gombe, Rivers , Delta and Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja from 8.30 – 11am.
Mrs. Henry explained that there is a Law against rape and defilement at the federal level -VAPP Act.
“In Lagos State the law stipulates life imprisonment or jail not less than 14 years with adequate financial compensation – YET culture of silence and shame, religious interferences and official inaction has interfered with the justice system! We are calling on the government to do something against this!
“Rape or defilement has far reaching consequences to the survivor and victim’s family .
“The issue of rape or defilement has become a cause for concern with its increase and an obvious lack of persecution of rapists and defilers.
“We call on all to support this SIT-OUT action. Black on black symbolizes pain, hurt and grief of the violation of babies and children and women.
“This Sit out is organized by Women Situation Room Nigeria, a Program of WILPF Nigeria in partnership with Alliance Against Domestic Violence and Abuse, AADVA.
“AADVA is made up of various NGO’s and Citizens Citizens – spearheaded by ACTS Generation who believes more is achieved with ONE VOICE,” she exclaimed.
Gombe (Nigeria) — Gombe State Pilgrims Welfare Board says it has so far airlifted 1,800 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia since 1st August 2017.
