Pa Ayo Adebanjo in a meeting with leaders of Atunluse Initiatives in Lagos

By Rukayat Moisemhe

Pa Ayo Adebanjo, the leader of Afenifere, Yoruba socio-cultural group, has appealed to Nigerians to vote for the candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, in Saturdays presidential election.

Adebanjo made the appeal when he hosted the leadership of the Atunluse Initiatives, a socio-cultural and political group, on Tuesday in Lagos

The Afenifere leader said the country is at a difficult period needed someone like Obi to rescue the current situation.

He said it was the responsibility of every Nigerian to fight for its freedom.

We dont have money to fight them, but we must do everything legitimately to free ourselves.

Because we agreed that we will be sharing the elective position between the North and the South, South-West had their share under Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, it went back to the North under Umaru YarAdua.

Goodluck Jonathan also did his own from South South and it went back to North, now coming back to South, it should be given to the South-East in the name of equity, justice and fairness, he said.

According to him, it is the turn of the South-East to produce the next president of the country.

Also speaking, Mr Akinsola Akinbobola, Chairman of the Atunluse Initiatives, thanked the nonagenarian for his efforts at uniting Nigeria.

Akinbobola and few leaders of Atunluse later had a closed door meeting with Pa Adebanjo and other Afenifere leaders.

The Coordinator of the Atunluse Initiatives, Mr Olaseni Shalom, said the organisation would make their choice of presidential candidate known after its meeting with the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) delegation on Wednesday in Akure.

Olaseni reiterated that Atunluse would remain resolute with the masses and for the advancement of good governance and better life for Nigerians.

We can only support a political party that shared same ideology with our organisation for the advancement of good governance and better life with majority of the citizens living in comfort, he said.

Samson Adesina, Spokesperson of the organisation, said Atunluse would make pronouncement to Nigerians which presidential candidate they would vote for when they conclude consultation. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Chinyere Joel-Nwokeoma

Source: NAN News

INEC box

By Ahmed Kaigama

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Bauchi State has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with transport unions to facilitate smooth movement of personnel and materials in the upcoming general election.

The parties to the agreement are: Nigeria Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO).

INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Alhaji Mohammmed Nura said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Bauchi.

He said the agreement was initially sealed at the national level and replicated at state and local government levels.

The commission, he said, was in partnership with the unions to ensure timely and effective transportation of personnel and election materials to polling units across the 20 LGAs of the state.

He said the commission had so far distributed non-sensitive materials to the local government areas while distribution of sensitive election materials will begin on Thursday.

The REC said the commission had trained 622 Collation/Returning Officers and thousands of other electoral officers to facilitate smooth conduct of the elections in the state.

He listed the trained election officers to include Supervisory Presiding Officers (SPOs), Presiding Officers (POs), Assistant Presiding Officers (APOs), Technical Personnel (RaTech), among others.

Nura said the commission was engaging relevant stakeholders, especially the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), to ensure safe delivery of election material and peaceful conduct of the elections.

While reitrating commitment to free, fair and credible elections, Nura urged voters to conduct themselves peacefully during the election exercise.

We are ready to go and appealed to the people of the state to conduct themselves orderly and peacefully during the elections.

People should turn out en masse to excercise their franchise in a peaceful atmosphere, he said. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Rabiu Sani-Ali

Source: NAN News

Dr. Tony Bello, Chairman and Co-Founder of Shine Bridge Global.

Source: NAN News

Joseph Ari

By Blessing Odega

The Director-General of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Mr Joseph Ari, says the fund has disbursed more than N24 billion as students and supervisors training allowances from 2016 to date.

Ari said this on Monday in Jos when the Correspondents Chapel of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Plateau council, gave him an award of excellence in leadership and human capital development.

He said that given the funds integral role in the training of students of Engineering, Technology and other allied disciplines in tertiary institutions, the ITF had accorded priority attention to the management of the scheme.

Ari assured the public of the funds commitment to the prompt payment of students and supervisors allowances, as soon as money is received from the Federal Government.

He further said that the ITF had automated its business processes in a bid to facilitate business processes within the ITF and with its stakeholders.

He commended the chapel for finding him worthy of the award and dedicated the award to the entire workforce of the ITF for their dedication and resilience.

Earlier, the Correspondents Chapel chairman, Mr Gyang Bere, who presented the award to Ari, said that the award was in recognition of the ITF training of thousands of youths with requisite skills for employability and in turn to reduce unemployment. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Deborah Coker/Kayode Olaitan

Source: NAN News

By Oluwafunke Ishola

Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNNGO) has partnered Palladium to develop a civil society public directory and management information system (MIS) to promote accountability, transparency, and legitimacy for civil society.

Mr Oluseyi Oyebisi, Executive Director, NNNGO, disclosed this in a statement on Monday in Lagos.

Oyebisi said that the platforms would capture and provide information on the operations of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and strengthen their capacity to engage citizens to influence the government in key development reforms at all levels.

He noted that the platform was developed as part of activities under the Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagements (SCALE) project, supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

According to him, the project aims to create a system that allows for civil society growth through ensuring visibility, self-regulation, learning, and experience sharing among the different levels within the civil society community.

Regulations are delicate but remain very important for the development of any sector.

So, we have taken the initiative to create tools, platforms and systems that aid not only statutory regulatory compliance but also self-regulation while paying attention to capacity strengthening and growth for Nigerian CSOs using technology.

I must say, we are excited to be at the centre of this huge development in the history of the Nigerian third sector.

Following about six regional consultations to conceptualise the platforms design, we are again deepening the consultation moving from conception to practice in ways that ensures we can define user experience for the MIS and Public Directory through learning, collaboration, and consultation Oyebisi said.

He noted that the next few months would feature engagements with the CSOs across the country to encourage subscription to the platforms.

Oyebisi said that the platforms had been designed to allow information provided to be verified using algorithms supported by artificial intelligence; accessible to people living with disabilities and organisations in hard-to-reach areas.

He stressed that this would ensure that organisations have access to tools to develop their capacities across a range of areas.

Ultimately, the platforms will be useful to government, regulators, development partners, donors and CSO themselves in identifying Nigerian CSOs, their activities, partners, promote collaboration, good governance, capacity development and inspiring confidence and trust in the activities of civil society organisations, he said.

Oyebisi said that the platform was developed using learnings, feedbacks, recommendations, and insights from consultations with government, regulators, development partners, national and regional CSO Networks along with CSOs at the grassroots across the six geopolitical zones.

He said that it also took from the self-regulatory models developed as part of the work of the National Technical Committee on civil society self-regulation in Nigeria. (NAN) (nannews.ng)

Edited by Chinyere Joel-Nwokeoma

Source: NAN News

PVCs

By Segun Giwa

A social cultural group, Atunluse Initiatives, has warned its members against selling their votes in the forthcoming general election, urging them to vote for candidates based on personal attributes.

The Chairman of Atunluse initiatives, Otunba Akinsola Akinbobola, gave the warning on Monday in Akure during a meeting with members of the group from all the 18 local government areas of the state.

Akinbobola charged them to examine the character and capacity of the candidates of the various political parties, and vote for candidates that will lead the country to the dreamland.

He admonished members to educate members of the public on the dangers of vote buying.

We must start thinking of breaking this hardship circle in Nigeria, by doing what is right. Reject their(politicians) money on elections day and vote for candidate with credibility and capability to deliver, he said.

Akinbobola revealed that the group was ready to work with any political party that has peoples oriented programmes in its manifesto.

He explained that the organisation stands for building a better Nigeria, where the masses would have access to affordable health care, qualitative education and other basic amenities.

According to him, Atunluse Initiatives is a big umbrella with membership across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Akinbobola also said the leadership of the group will only work with political party that recognised what it stands for, which is a birth of a new and better Nigeria.

Looking at the parties, the Labour party is the only party that share the same ideology with our group, nevertheless, we are going to x-ray the parties and adopt the best for the masses after further consultations, he said.

In his remarks, the Coordinator of the group, Mr Shalom Olaseni, urged members to remain focused, saying that better Nigeria is possible if we can all do away with tribalism, ethnicity and other negative vices.

Olaseni assured the members that the leadership of the group will always protect their interest. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Tayo Ikujuni

Source: NAN News

Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor (M) with service chiefs and heads of other security agencies after a closed-door meeting at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja on Monday (20/2/23)

By Sumaila Ogbaje

Abuja, Feb. 20, 2023 (NAN) The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Lucky Irabor has reassured Nigerians that the armed forces and other security agencies are ready to provide safe and secure environment for the 2023 general elections.

Irabor gave the assurance while briefing newsmen shortly after meeting with service chiefs and heads of security agencies on Monday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the closed-door meeting was attended by Service Chiefs, Inspector-General of Police, Directors General of Department of State Services (DSS) and National Intelligence Agency (NIA), and the Chief of Defence Intelligence (CDI).

He said the purpose of the meeting was to review security arrangements for the elections and develop action plans to ensure that the exercise hold under a peaceful atmosphere.

We have just finished the meeting. The service chiefs, the Inspector General of Police, the DSS, represented by the Director of Operations, the DG, NIA and the CDI.

Looking at the security for the elections and as you know, the police is the lead agency for elections security, we have compared notes and assessed the entire situation and we are good to go.

The assessment is that we are set on all fronts.

We got representation from the Independent National Electoral Commission, who of course you have interacted with, and has also told Nigerians and the world that they are ready for this election.

By and large, we are good to go and I like to use this opportunity to assure Nigerians that on the security front, we are good to go on all fronts, he said.

Irabor also gave assurance that the security agencies would cover every part of the country to ensure peaceful elections, so that all eligible Nigerians exercise their franchise.

He added that contingency actions had been taken to address areas with peculiar security challenges.

The CDS warned those that intend to cause trouble during the elections to have a have rethink, because they will have a bloody nose. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Benson Iziama/Maharazu Ahmed

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Source: NAN News

Dr Oby Ezekwesili,

Edited by Oluwole Sogunle

Source: NAN News

President Muhammadu Buhari

By Ismaila Chafe

The Federal Executive Council (FEC), in the course of the week, approved 53.1 million dollars and N2.1billion as local component for the procurement and installation of electricity conductors to boost power supply across the country.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting of the Council, which was chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday in Abuja, also approved the introduction of an Electronic Cargo Tracking Note Scheme for the country.

The conductors, when installed, would help address the challenge of constant tripping of circuit breakers due to overloading of electricity lines.

The president had earlier hosted the Director-General of National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Dr Gambo Aliyu; the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Molly Phee; and Ambassador of the United States to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, on Monday in Abuja.

At the meeting, Buhari directed the transition committee to ensure that the achievements of the HIV programme are clearly highlighted in transition notes and a sustainability roadmap articulated for the incoming administration.

The transition committee is headed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha.

Also on Monday, Buhari during a telephone conversation with the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, called for a lifting of the blanket visa ban clamped down on Nigerians by the Government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Sheikh Al Nahyan doubles as the Emir of Abu Dhabi.

The Imo Traditional Council on Tuesday in Owerri honoured President Muhammadu Buhari with a traditional title, Nwanne di namba, (meaning a brother in Diaspora) title.

The Council appreciated the Nigerian leader for love shown to the South East, and sustained legacy of promoting peace and harmony in the country.

Buhari thanked Eze Imo, Dr Emmanuel Okeke, for the recognition, assuring that he will continue to demonstrate his love for the South East and citizens.

The president was in Imo to inaugurate projects and present the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Sen. Bola Tinubu to the electorates in the state.

He thanked indigenes of Imo for continuous support for his administration, government of the state and All Progressives Congress (APC), asking for more support to consolidate on the gains.

Buhari on Thursday before departing for African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, addressed the nation where he approved the reintroduction of old N200 note as legal tender alongside the new N200 note until April 10.

He said the approval was necessitated by the need to cushion the hardship being experienced by citizens following the implementation of the new monetary policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

In the nationwide broadcast, Buhari also directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to intensify collaboration with anti-corruption agencies in checking the activities of those bent on frustrating the smooth implementation of the currency re-design policy.

The president also inaugurated the High-Level Advisory Council on Support for Women and Girls, calling for upscaling of efforts for more inclusion of women in development policies and projects.

Buhari made this known at the inauguration of an Advisory Council, Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment Project, and National Womens Economic Empowerment Policy Dialogue on Thursday in Abuja.

According to the president, the three initiatives will target reduction of poverty and building of a sustainable economy.

Buhari also received briefing from members of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on cashless policy and Naira swap at the State House, Abuja, on Thursday.

At the meeting, the president explained that the cashless policy and Naira swap by the Central Bank have short and long term benefits for the country in dealing with insecurity and corruption.

At the AU Summit in Addis Ababa, the president pledged Nigerias readiness to host the Secretariat of the Sahel Climate Fund, including equipping and provision of accommodation to the top management staff of the fund.

The Sahel Climate Fund is the financial body of the Sahel Region Climate Commission (SRCC).

The body is one of the three climate Commissions for Africa created in Marrakech, Morocco, in 2016, at the Summit of African Heads of State and Government.

It was organised at the initiative of King of Morocco, on the sidelines of the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP22) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Speaking at the 2nd Heads of State and Government of SRCC during the 36th AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Friday, Buhari said as an active member of the Commission, Nigeria would support the operationalisation of the secretariat toward effective implementation of climate change activities in the region.

While in Addis Ababa, the Nigerian leader called on African Union (AU) member countries to strengthen early warning systems to rein in conflicts in the continent.

He also urged all AU member states to ratify the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement.

The Nigerian positions and interventions on these issues were conveyed by the president during separate meetings at the ongoing 36th AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The Summit is meeting under theme.

NAN reports that the president will return to Abuja on Feb. 20, 2023. (NAN)

Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Source: NAN News

New naira notes

By Aisha Gambo

Kaduna residents have turned to petrol filling stations for salvation in their desperate search for cash to satisfy their pressing needs, reports the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

This development is sequel to scarcity of cash in Automated Teller Machines (ATM) of most banks in the metropolis, just as PoS operators have closed shop for same reason.

NAN checks indicated that people in search of cash troop to petrol stations dispensing fuel, hunting for those that are buying petrol with cash, instead of electronic transfer.

An agreement is then reached with those in need of cash, who would settle the fuel price from their account through electronic transfer, and then receive the cash from the fuel buyer in return.

People interviewed in one of the filling stations said the arrangement came as a relief to a lot of people who had been under severe hardship.

I got wind of this arrangement today and went to a petrol station dispensing fuel, talked to a commercial bus driver, and he accepted to help me.

We agreed that I should pay N7,000, through the stations PoS, being the cost of his fuel, which I did.

When it was his turn to be dispensed of the fuel, I presented the N7,000 slip, and collected the cash from him in return; it was a big relief to me as I had no cash on me.

The major challenge is that it is not everything that can be purchased through electronic transfer of money; there are some needs that can only be satisfied using (liquid) cash, said Adamu Saleh, a resident.

He said commercial vehicle operators had been very useful in that regard, just as he praised them for not capitalising on the situation to requesting for something in return.

Another resident, Mrs Aisha Fika, said she had to accost three different people at a petrol station before she secured liquid cash.

I accosted two people who told me they had already been booked by others, but a third person obliged, she said.

Fika said all efforts to secure cash through ATM or PoS proved abortive, until she got wind of the petrol station arrangement.

Another resident, Aminu Lawan, said the challenges with this arrangement, are the uncertainty of network service, and the time spent waiting for the turn of your helper to be dispensed fuel.

Sometimes, the network can disappoint, or the person to help you is far behind in the petrol queue; except you are patients you may end up getting frustrated, he said.

Others who spoke to NAN said the arrangement was a big relief, and had helped in reducing the frustration of many, occasioned by the current cash squeeze in the system.

Meanwhile, some hospitals in Kaduna patronised by ordinary people, are experiencing dearth of patients.

Some staff of the hospitals, who were interviewed by NAN, attributed the low turn out to the unavailability of new Naira Notes.

One of the staff at the hospital, who pleaded anonymity, said some patients did not even have cash to settle their transportation fare to the hospital.

A patient, Mrs Munirat Umar, met in one of the hospitals, said in spite of her coming late, she was able to see a doctor due to low turnout of patients, saying she met empty seats at the waiting hall.

She said that lack of cash, as well as poor network that hindered seamless electronic transfer of money, had played a measure role in reducing the number of patients in the hospital.

Another patient, Muhammad Adam, who brought his sister to the hospital, said they were able to see a doctor, but could not pay for medications due to lack of new Naira Notes.

We have old Naira notes and they have refused to collect the money insisting we pay with the new currency or use the Point of Sale (PoS), he said.

NAN also observed that tricycle operators in Kaduna metropolis now display boldly on their tricycle, their account details for customers to settle their fair electronically.

Passengers were also being warned in advance that old N500 and N1,000 notes were no longer legal tenders, and would therefore, not be accepted. (NAN)

Edited by Fatima Sule/Abdullahi Salihu

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