Several agencies of the Kaduna State Government have conducted various recruitment exercises for 10,000 staff within the last one year, Special Adviser to the Governor  Media and Communications, Muyiwa Adekeye has said

In  statement issued Monday in Kaduna, Adekeye said “In March 2020, government had suspended the conclusion of the recruitment exercise launched in August 2019 to enable it to properly assess the fiscal impact of Covid-19.

“Despite the uncertainty caused by Covid-19, the government has permitted its agencies offering the most essential services to refresh their teams with new staff, hence the preponderance of education and health on the current recruitment list.

“Given its commitment to provide 12 years of free basic education from Primary 1 to SS3, the KDSG is consistently recruiting teachers for its primary and secondary schools.

” The Teachers’ Service Board has concluded interviews and other processes to hire 7,600 secondary school teachers.

“Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital employed 283 new doctors, nurses and other essential staff in November 2020.

” This has allowed the teaching hospital to grow its roster of doctors to 191, from only 32 in 2015. With the 215 doctors in the State Ministry of Health, Kaduna State now has 406 doctors working in its public service.

“The Ministry of Health has also recruited 1,064 persons, including 196 technical staff and 871 non-technical staff while 1,225 new staff have been injected into the Primary Health Care system.

“At the tertiary level, the Kaduna State University (KASU) has also employed 159 staff since 2020. The College of Education, Gidan-Waya, has submitted a report on their recent recruitment process and is awaiting approval for the resumption of 388 new staff, including lecturers and other categories of personnel.

” In the regulatory sector, the Kaduna State Water Services Regulatory Commission has hired 14 more staff.

“As the Kaduna State Government proceeds with its policy of rightsizing the public service, it will continue to hire skilled and essential personnel.

” At its conclusion, the rightsizing exercise will establish any critical gaps that remain in the core civil service and the parastatals for skilled personnel.

“These could be filled by candidates that partook in the suspended recruitment exercise for the core civil service  or any agency-specific recruitments as appropriate”, the statement concludes

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has ordered broadcasting stations in Nigeria to suspend the use of their Twitter accounts.

Director General of NBC, Armstrong Idachaba, gave the directive in a statement on Monday.

He advised them to de-install their twitter handles and “desist from using twitter as a source (UGC) of information gathering for News and programmes presentation especially Phone-in.”

This is coming few days after federal government’s announcement banning Twitter activities in Nigeria, by Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, following Twitter’s action of deleting a controversial post by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Lai Mohammed also ordered the NBC to “immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria.”

Owing to the ban, Nigerians have been denied access to Twitter and can only access by bypassing domain restrictions through alternative mediums.

The suspension is sequel to Twitter’s sanction after Mr Buhari’s controversial tweet about the civil war which some Nigerian users flagged and Twitter said violated its rules.

The government, in its response, accused the platform of bias against President Buhari and “undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”.

Although the presidency says the ban is temporary, human rights groups and foreign organisations have berated the President Buhari-led administration for censorship, calling for a reversal of the suspension.

READ FULL STATEMENT BELOW

Consequent on the suspension of Twitter operations in Nigeria by the Federal Government over the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining the corporate existence of Nigeria, the National Broadcasting Commission directs all Broadcasting Stations in Nigeria to suspend the patronage of Twitter immediately.

In Compliance to the above directive, Broadcasting Stations are hereby advised to de- install twitter handles and desist from using twitter as a source (UGC) of information gathering for News and programmes Presentation especially Phone-in.

Section 2(1) r of the NBC Act entrusts the Commission with responsibility to ensure strict adherence to the national laws, rules and regulations. Also, section 3.11.2 of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code provides that “the broadcaster shall ensure that law enforcement is upheld at all times in a matter depicting that law and order are socially superior to or more desirable than Crime and Anarchy.

Attention is also drawn to section 5.6.3 of The Code which requires Broadcasters to be mindful of materials that may cause disaffection, incite to panic or rift in the society in the use of a user generated Content (UGC).

Note that it will be unpatriotic for any broadcaster in Nigeria to continue to patronise the suspended Twitter as a source of its information therefore strict compliance is enjoined.

Prof Armstrong Idachaba

Embattled Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has written to the African National Congress (ANC)’s integrity commission requesting a meeting to state his case.

Calls for Mkhize’s removal are growing in the country over his department’s involvement in the Digital Vibes scandal.

The commission’s chairperson, George Mashamba, said that it received a letter from the Health minister on Saturday in which he asks for an opportunity to explain his role in the allegations.

At the centre of the debacle is a R150 million irregular tender that his department awarded to Digital Vibes, a company linked to some of his close associates.

The minister’s son is also shown to have benefited from the proceeds.

As the president deals with the matter involving Mkhize, some of his own comrades have been at pains dissecting the story behind the recent allegations.

According to some insiders, the timing of the expose speaks to the ANC’s elective conference next year, where Mkhize might have been a strong contender for deputy president of the ANC.

However, some have refused to weigh in on what’s really at play and whether or not the minister will resign.

Instead, they’re calling for the party to be left out of the matter.

They claim that the appointment of ministers was the president’s prerogative and he must deal with the fallout.

Meanwhile, the ANC’s integrity commission chair, Mashamba, said that they met over the weekend to discuss the scandal.

“The secretary gave us a letter from Zweli Mkhize requesting that he wants to come and see us,” Mashamba said.

Mkhize is likely to also come up during the ANC’s national working committee meeting on Monday.

Source: EWN