₦airaland Forum

Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II has said he was sick of receiving numerous requests from philanthropists asking to build mosques in Kano state instead of empowering the girl-child through education to ensure a sane society.
Sanusi, who made the remarks on Thursday during a conference on Islamic finance organized by the International Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance (IIIBF) at Bayero University, Kano, said it was not a coincidence that the Northwest region is the most backward in almost all indices of human development.

“I’m just tired of people coming to me to say I want to build a new mosque. You know, we keep building mosques and our daughters are illiterate. So, my appeal is that if you really want to help Kano, don’t come to me with a request to build a N300 million mosque because I have enough mosques everywhere. And if I don’t have a mosque, I’ll build it myself. If you really want to help, go and educate a girl child in the village.

“It is not a mere coincidence that this is where you have the highest levels of illiteracy, early marriage, divorce and the highest levels of domestic violence,” he said.

The emir said to reverse these negative trends, there was a need to change the law and educate the children of the downtrodden.

“People need to understand that the law has to change. If you look at the medical data on maternal health, girls who get pregnant below the age of 15 are five times as likely to die as girls who get pregnant at the age of 20. Those who get pregnant under 18 are twice as likely to die as those who get
pregnant at the age of 20. so its important that we look at this issue of early marriage.

“If you look at the statistics, 48 percent of girls from the age of 15 to 19 in northwestern Nigeria are married, but that’s not all, 75 percent of these girls cannot read and write. Imagine what society we are creating, he added.

Sanusi said that the government should build more schools and provide teachers just as the private sector can also assist where the government lacks resources.

“If you can get foundations to provide the funding and the government to focus on girl-child education, and change the law with the support of the scholars because that’s where the big problem is, then we should be able to address the issue,” he said.

ReneeNuttall:
Nigeria shouldn't get too involved, after all we have boko Haram to contend with

Dclique:
The military isn't going to get involved.

The Gambian National Army (GNA) had a strength of 1,000 personnel in 2013 (900 from the GNA, 100 from the Gambian Air Force).

The GNA is made up of two infantry battalions, an engineering squadron, and smaller logistics, signals and intelligence units, plus the presidential guard company. The GNA has upgraded its equipment to provide greater firepower and mobility. It now has several armoured cars (two of which are based at State House) and heavier caliber vehicle-mounted weapons.


National Republican Guard

An amendment to the Gambia Armed Forces Bill in April 2008 included the creation of a new branch of the GAF, the National Republican Guard (NRG).

The NRG is thought to have a strength of 700 personnel, and is made up of a State Guard unit, a Special Forces unit, and a Presidential Guard unit.


Other branches

National Military Police (~400 personnel)

Gambian Navy (~250 personnel); 4 Hai Ou-class fast attack craft, 2 hovercraft and several small vessels, berthed at GNS Jammeh naval base.

Military manpower - availability


Available for military service, males age 16-49: 423,306. Females age 16-49: 438,641 (2010 estimate)

Fit for military service, males age 16-49: 315,176. Females age 16-49: 347,017 (2010 estimate)


Aircraft inventory

Sukhoi Su-25 - 1
Air Tractor AT-802 - 2
Short SC.7 Skyvan - 1
Britten-Norman Defender - 1

http://thesummary.com.ng/index.php/news-categories/national/item/9362-as-nigeria-army-prepares-to-go-to-war-with-gambia-see-shocking-military-strength-of-the-gambian-army

According to the online platform, the battalion is christened ECOMOG NIBATT 1 and was drawn from the Army’s 19th Battalion based in Okitipupa, Ondo State.

It was learnt that the Army Headquarters has instructed the nominated officers and men, put at over 800, to immediately report at the Nigerian Army School of Infantry, Jaji, for a crashed course on counter terrorism and counter insurgency.

The Army Headquarters has reportedly instructed the Army directorates of policy and plans; finance; and logistics to ready funds, arms, ammunition and other logistics for the operation.

The Armoured Corps is also working hard to ready armoured vehicles needed for the task.

There were suggestions that the Nigerian Air Force and the Navy might deploy men and equipment for the operation as well

http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/international/buhari-to-send-over-800-soldiers-warplanes-to-gambia-if-jammeh-fails-to-step-down/180415.html

Ten12:
I thought this man is a lawyer how come he is always speaking for kemi adeosun...is he also VP finance?..who is actually heading the finance ministry so we can know who to hold responsible for all this unproductive socialist policies...

veraponpo:
If not for the Niger-Delta militancy, perhaps we would have had, since Buhari got to power, about $50B in our reserve by now.

That could have cushioned the effects of international economic challenge.

With the way we are going now, we might hit $40B before year end.

Note that our output per day is still less than 2.2M barrels per day ( we are between 1.8M to 1.9M).

Corruption is a problem.

mercichoco:
Its a custom in nigeria, each administration tend to start fresh, still leave it unfinished, wasting resources. How can we move forward with these.

pinkcottoncandy:
This is why the country will never get anywhere....no continuity....each government comes in with his own

psucc:
Op please check well. That figure may be for SW.

Besides what is that to the millions budgeted for kitchen and her property?

How many of the projects will be implemented at the end of the fiscal year?

The Senate, yesterday, told the Federal Government to desist from the culture of abandoning developmental projects and policies initiated by previous administrations.

Consequently, it advised the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to cut down on wasteful spending by ensuring continuation and sustenance in policies, programmes and projects of previous governments.

The admonition was given by the Chairman of the Senate committee on FCT, Senator Dino Melaye, at an investigative hearing on the abandoned N8 billion Code of Conduct Bureau Office headquarters.

Melaye said that the alarming increase in the number of abandoned projects had become a great concern to well meaning Nigerians, who expected such projects to be completed by the various governments that initiated them from the beginning.

He said: “As soon as these programmes and projects are abandoned, new ones are initiated only to be abandoned again by yet another successive government.”

The Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) said it has started the supply of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), commonly called cooking, to Lagos to ease its shortage and attendant high prices.

The firm in a statement endorsed by its General Manager, External Relations, Kudo Eresia-Eke said NLNG’s LPG vessel successfully discharged 13,000 tonnes of LPG to Lagos jetty at the weekend. He added that the vessel is scheduled to return to NLNG’s facility in Bonny to reload the product.

“NLNG continues its efforts to ensure adequate supply and price stability to the market,” he added. Nigeria LNG is the sole local supplier of the cooking gas to the domestic market. LPG marketers complement such supply with imported LPG from the neigbouring countries such as Niger Republic.

Meanwhile, the West Africa Gas Ltd (WAGL), a joint venture firm of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Sahara Energy will today, unveil two LPG vessels in Ulsan, South Korea that would be game changer in the LPG supply network.

It raised the hope that the supply logjam that impedes stable availability of the product would soon become history.

Its Group Managing Director, DrMaikantiBaru, who spoke at a Pre-Naming Ceremony Dinner yesterday in Ulsan, South Korea, said he was delighted that the venture which was established in 2014 had started to record success even within a short span.

NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. NduUghamadu, who disclosed this in a statement, noted that Baru said the milestone was a boost LPG business in Nigeria.

As it is customary, ships are named by the spouses of the sponsors, often referred to as “godmother of the vessels”.

In this case, spouses of the GMD and COO Gas & Power will perform the naming ceremony.

dunkem21:
Have you ever tasted Toto water?

pyyxxaro:
Naàaa waaaa oh

person go drink water finish ,e Prik go come de stand join

God abeg oh

#quotes am here #

The Nasarawa state office of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has rehabilitated the obsolete Toto water scheme at N300 million.

The facility was built 37 years ago by the then Governor of the old Plateau State, late Solomon Lar, but was maintained for only five years.

The rehabilitated water scheme was formally handed over to authorities of the Nasarawa state water board by the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura on SDGs, Dr. Salisu Raj, who performed the formal handover of the project at Toto, headquarters of Toto local government area of the state.

Raj said that over N300 million had been expended on the project which was conceived, constructed and completed by the administration of Solomon Lar in 1980, and put to use for a period of about five years before it went dormant.

“It had been dormant until the coming of the present administration of Governor Al-Makura who felt the need to give Toto people the much needed portable water and so directed the MDGs, as of then, to capture it in its work plan and today, we are seeing that fruit as directed by the governor,” he said, explaining that the project was capable of supplying 400 cubic litres of water to Toto town.

“When it was initially conceived, the water scheme was for 200 cubic litres, but we upgraded it to 400 cubic litres to take care of the growth in population of the town. So it is designed now in such a way that with the backup power plant and public power supply, Toto inhabitants can have a 24-hour water supply,” Raj added

In a response, General Manager of the state water board who spoke through his representative, Umar Agbo, said the board would ensure that the project handed over to it was used to the optimum level.

The 13th prosecution witness, Joseph Okpetu, told a Federal High Court on Friday that he renovated houses, built churches and mosque for former Chief of Defence Staff case, Alex Badeh.

Okpetu, in his resumed testimony before Justice Okon Abang, said he constructed Badeh’s Yola mansions worth N150 million between 2008 and 2012.

He said that he was contracted to renovate Badeh’s house, destroyed by Boko Haram insurgents in Vimtim village in the Mubi Local Government Area of Adamawa and was paid N50 million.

“I also built a Mosque, renovated three churches and a civic centre meant for skills acquisition and was paid N100 million in three instalments by Air Commodore Yishau.

Okpetu also said his company started dealing with the Nigerian Air Force far back in 2010, and had completed contracts in Kano, Kaduna, Yola, Markurdi and Abuja for the government.

He stressed that out of the N50 million meant for the renovation, he was made to build a house for an officer in-charge of the Joint Task Force.

“I used about N14 million and N15 million on the building of the officer house in Mubi on Badeh’s directive.

“There was no award of contract from either the Army or the Navy for the construction of the house of the Officer-in-Charge,’’ he said.

When asked if he knew the 2nd defendant, Iyalikam Nigeria Limited, he said “I don’t know Iyalikam Nigeria Limited, but I was paid N30 million from its account in 2015

“We used the money for clearing of the perimeters in Badeh’s farm and imported materials then planted equipment at Akanciye in Nasarawa State.

“During the tenure of Badeh, I constructed the dining hall of Air Force Comprehensive School, supplied generator and also built in Kano 18 by two, non-commissioned officers’ quarters.

“We drilled borehole also in Makurdi Air Force Base,” Okpetu added.

He further said that the share structure of one of his company Vim Plast Nigeria Limited are, three million naira to Alex Badeh (Jnr), three million naira to Kamtufa Badeh and four million naira to himself (Joseph Okpetu).

He added that it was later changed in 2015 to six million naira to Joseph Okpetu, three million to Kamtufa Badeh, N500,000 to Victoria Okpetu, and N500,000 also to Architect Dan Williams.

He said Kamtufa constructed a house in Kubwa, Abuja, adding that his father gave him the house as a contribution to the company.

Okpetu, who was cross examined by Chief Akin Olujinmi (SAN), defence counsel, said he was detained and released by EFCC without spending a night.

He also admitted that he was not psychologically stable while writing the statements in the absence of his lawyer.

The witness added that he wrote and signed all statements he made on eight occasions when he was in the custody of the EFCC.

The statements were tendered and admitted in evidence by Justice Abang as exhibit T89-T96, respectively.

Abang also adjourned the matter till Jan. 25 and Jan. 26 for continuation of cross examination.

The EFCC is prosecuting Badeh alongside a firm, Iyalikam Nigeria Limited, on a 10-count charge of money laundering bordering on alleged fraudulent removal of about N3.97 billion from the Nigerian Air Force’s account.

The anti-graft agency accused Badeh of using the funds to buy and develop landed assets in Abuja for himself and two sons between January and December, 2013.

The Ekiti Government on Friday gave seven days ultimatum to defaulting Federal Government agencies occupying its property to vacate.

The government insisted that the agencies must comply with its directive by either buying the property they are presently occupying or pay the normal rent on the property.

The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that the state governor, Mr Ayo Fayose gave this directive in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Public Communication and New Media, Lere Olayinka.

Mr. Fayose said that the state government evicted the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Ekiti State Command, and other federal ministries and agencies from their various offices.

“Yearly, budgetary provisions are made for payment of rent by federal government agencies, which has no permanent offices across the 36 states of the federation

“We then wonder why those that have been occupying property belonging to the Ekiti government for over 10 years do not want to pay rent or make the properties theirs by buying them,”

The governor said that some of the agencies had purchased the properties they are occupying while others like National Population Commission had promised to pay.

“As at today, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control and National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency have already paid N5.5 million and N10.8 million respectively for outright purchase of the property they are occupying.

“Even the NSCDC is already offering to pay N18 million instead of the N27 million it ought to pay.

“The Nigerian Prison Service, which is also occupying property valued at N108 million is insisting that it won’t pay.

“We have given a 7-day ultimatum for all the federal agencies to purchase the property, pay rent or quit.

“We are yet to evict them, we only gave them notice of one year and we have now giving another seven days of grace, there is no going back,” he was quoted in the statement.

(NAN)