By Christian Ogbonna

The National Directorate of Employment (NDE), has disbursed starter packs to no fewer than 42 unemployed graduates in Ebonyi.

The beneficiaries participated in the NDEs Community Based Training Scheme, (CBTS) and School on Wheel (SOW) programme.

Alhaji Abubakar Nuhu-Fikpo, Director-General of NDE, made the disbursement at a resettlement ceremony on Thursday in Abakaliki.

Nuhu-Fikpo, represented by the NDE Coordinator in Ebonyi, Mr Don Anaba, said that 20 graduands of CBTS and 22 SOW participant benefited from the disbursement.

He explained that the beneficiaries had undergone and completed training on different skills, which include fashion designing, catering, make-up, hair dressing, electrical installation, barbing among others.

The graduands have all undergone in-depth training in various skills. Today, we are giving them tools and equipment, relating to their skills as loan packages.

The objective of this project is to establish competent artisans in both rural and semi-urban areas who would, in turn become self-employed and further create wealth and reduce poverty.

I urge the unemployed youths in Ebonyi to continue to avail themselves of the opportunity provided by NDE to acquire skills and exit joblessness, he said.

Mr Isa Abdul, NDEs Director of Vocational Skill Development (VSD), charged the beneficiaries to utilise the equipment and become self-reliance.

Abdul, represented by Mr Obioha Ananaba, Head of the Department, VSD, Ebonyi, stressed the importance of skill acquisition to nation building.

I commend you, the beneficiaries on your commitment during the training . I urge you to make good use of what you have learnt and support the Federal Governments efforts on job creation.

As you have received the starter packs; they are not for sell. Invest with it and become self-reliance and employer of labour, Abdul advised.

The Ebonyi Commissioner for Human Capital Development, Mrs Ann Aligwe, represented by her Special Assistant, Mr Innocent Ekechi, commended the Federal Governments efforts on job creations through NDE.

Aligwe said that the state government would continue to partner NDE in the fight against unemployment.

A beneficiary, Mrs Rose Okafor, who was trained on hair-dressing thanked the Federal Government for initiating the scheme and pledged to make good use of the equipment. (NAN)(nannews.ng)

Edited by Maureen Ojinaka/Obike Ukoh

Source: NAN News

By Aderemi Bamgbose

An All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain in Ondo State, Mr Alex Kalejaiye, has defended the partys presidential standard bearer, Bola Tinubus choice of Sen. Kashim Shetima as his running mate, ahead of the 2023 general elections.

The News Agency Nigeria (NAN) reports that Tinubu had, on July 10, unveiled Shettima, a former two-term governor of Borno, as his vice-presidential candidate, with the decision generating mixed reactions from Nigerians.

Kalejaiye, in a telephone interview with NAN on Thursday in Okitipupa, Ondo State, said that by picking Shettima, Tinubu had only explored the available option, based on his political calculation on wining the presidential election.

Kalejaiye, who is also the APC Spokesman in the state, said that Tinubu must have gone through serious consultations with an array of Christian political friends, ardent supporters and allies before settling for the former Borno governor.

He noted that a few months ago, the initial clamour was for power to shift to the South, which, he said, APC had acceded to.

It behooves the candidate to look at the array of eminently qualified party stalwarts from the North and pick the one he believes can assist him in winning the presidential election.

Many people have curiously refused to demonstrate understanding over the matter. And it is simple; a politician will always explore avenues open to him in his political calculations, all aimed at winning election.

This is exactly what happened in 1993 when the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola opted for Alhaji Baba Gana Kingibe as his running mate and this was without any objection from any quarters on the choice of Muslim-Muslim for the election.

Before him, the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, contested on a Christian-Christian ticket with Chief Philip Umeadi and nobody raised any eyebrow, he said.

According to him, even though some people had expressed displeasure with the option, the party will continue to educate its members, supporters and Nigerians in general on the why it is the choice, given the present circumstance in the country.

Kalejaiye described APC as a disciplined party that would not take Nigerians for granted, urging people to look beyond the Muslim-Muslim ticket but focus on the quality of the running mate and his readiness to team up with him to provide good governance.

The APC chieftain expressed optimism on the partys chances at the poll, owing to its formidable structure and intimidating membership, with high degree of stability in terms of internal rancour.

It is my candid opinion that we should give it to Tinubu that he must have taken that decision in the overriding interest of Nigeria.

We all agree that he has the vision, capacity, exposure and the requisite experience to lead the country, Kalejaiye said. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Wale Sadeeq

Source: NAN News

By Emmanuel Afonne

A political support group, Project 37 for Tinubu-Shettima, says it has activated campaigns in the 774 local government areas in the country.

Project 37 says the move will ensure the emergence of Sen. Bola Tinubu and Sen. Kashim Shettima as president and vice president, come 2023.

Project 37 is one of the All Progressives Congress (APC) political support groups, campaigning for the election of Tinubu and Shettima in next years general election.

Mr Mark Nsimbehe, the National Coordinator of the group, in a statement on Thursday in Abuja, also noted that Project 37 had also activated its political support base in all the 36 states and the FCT.

As a group of like minds ready to return Nigeria to her place of pride, we have activated our political support base in all the 36 states and the FCT.

We have also taken our campaigns to the 774 local government areas to ensure our ambition is achieved.

Nsimbehe who congratulated Shettima from the North East, for been chosen by Tinubu as his running mate, said that the selection of the former banker was an added advantage to the campaign.

He said that the choice of Shettima from a zone ravaged by Boko Haram terrorists was an indication of the Tinubu-Shettima candidacy to end insurgency in the country.

He also noted that the achievements of Shettima as Borno governor were there for all to see in spite of devastating effect of Boko Haram insurgents.

Shettima was able to rebuild many schools and homes that were destroyed and he ensured that internally displace persons returned to their homes.

Indeed the choice of our great party APC is commendable and has been welcomed by many Nigerians.

Project 37 is a National political support group with a mandate to support and work for the actualisation of Tinubu- Shettima presidency in the forthcoming general election.

According to him, Tinubus knowledge of the economy and Shettimas banking knowledge will go a long way in propelling the country to economic prosperity.

He added that Tinubus achievements as governor of Lagos State made the state financially stable and viable with an unprecedented Internally Generated Revenue.

Nsimbehe frowned at the unjustified criticism of the partys Muslim-Muslim ticket, adding that Nigerian should only concern themselves with competence, and ignore religious sentiments in order for the country to move forward. (NAN)

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Edited by Obike Ukoh

Source: NAN News

By Isaiah Eka

Akwa Ibom Deputy Gov. Moses Ekpo has expressed concern about the decline in the use of vernacular among the younger generation and called for its inclusion in schools curriculum to forestall extinction.

Ekpo made the call on Thursday while receiving a delegation from the National Institute for Nigerian Languages, Abia, who came to present published texts for the teaching of Annang language at the Government House, Uyo.

He said the state government was willing to improve and contribute to the development of the various languages in the state to ensure the preservation of the cultural values of the people.

He said that language was very important in education and commended the institute for taking up the challenge.

Ekpo also commended the institute for the development of the Annang language through the published texts.

He said it proved that other languages could also be developed to improve the education system across the state and country at large.

It is good that Annang language has reached this stage; I commend both the Ati and Afe Annang, and the institution for driving the idea, he said.

In her remarks, the Commissioner for Education, Mrs Idongesit Etiebet, said that the state government was aware of the published Annang texts.

She said that the government had placed them under review for inclusion in the next batch of text books for use in Akwa Ibom.

Etiebet, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mrs Rose Bassey, expressed hope that more investments would be made by individuals and institutions to develop other languages for use in schools.

She expressed displeasure that a lot of Akwa Ibom children were unable to speak their mother tongue, especially with the mindset that it was native and inferior.

Earlier, Prof. Obiajulu Emejulu, the leader of the delegation and Executive Director, National Institute for Nigerian Languages, said the published texts were to explore the possibility of teaching the language at the Universal Basic Education level.

He said the books were an inspiration received from the deputy governor during his visit to the institution at the 2017 International Mother Tongue Day celebration.

He said that this was where he stressed the need to develop the language and produce materials for use in schools.

Emejulu said that the 12 books comprising nine primers, covering Primary 1 to Junior Secondary 3 reference texts on rules for Annang spelling and dictionary, would help people explore the terminologies of the language.

He said that research indicated that children taught in their mother tongues did better in learning.

The executive director expressed optimism that once the Federal Government approved the language policy documents, the institute would receive support to develop 520 Nigerian languages for use as languages of education.

Emejulu called for support to train more students in Annang to become competent teachers of the language adding that 24 persons so far were trained by the institution.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Chidi Opara/Donald Ugwu

Source: NAN News

By George Odok

Gov. Ben Ayade of Cross River, has emerged as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Cross River North Seat at the National Assembly for 2023 polls.

Ayade, who emerged unopposed, was elected at a fresh primary election at the Ogoja Local Government Area (LGA) of the state on Thursday.

The election followed the voluntary withdrawal of Mr Martins Orim, who won the ticket at the May 28, primaries.

Mrs Sameera Tabo, Chairperson of the APC Primary Election Committee for Cross River North declared the governor winner with 252 votes.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the total votes cast was 255, while three votes were invalidated.

According to Tabo, following Orims withdrawal, the fresh primary election was to ensure that the party fielded a candidate for Cross River North under the provisions of the Electoral Act.

In his acceptance speech, Ayade expressed gratitude to the delegates for electing him.

He said that after running for the office of the president of Nigeria, he returned home and then came under pressure from his people to contest for senate.

They said I did very well when I was a Senator from 2011 to 2015 and insisted I go back; today I have answered their call.

Of course, they recognised that this country requires a legislator that has both executive and legislative experience.

I am very experienced, I know the challenges of our people and possess the essential elements that will help us make the appropriate laws and legislation that will change the narrative of our people, he said.

The governor said he was well equipped for the senate and would bring his wealth of experience to bear in the upper legislative chamber if elected. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Olabisi Akinbode/Ali Baba-Inuwa

Source: NAN News

By Babatunde Ogunrinde

The maiden edition of the Ludo National Championships is set to hold in Lagos from July 18 to July 23.

The Organisers, Mrs Olaide Graham, the Chief Executive Officer, Gbolad Continental Venture, said this during a news conference on Wednesday in Lagos.

According to her, the event, set to hold at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, will have two different categories of participants.

She said that the participants were expected to compete at the terrtiary institutions in Lagos and in other parts of the South West region of the country.

The other category would have people come by from all spheres of life, which cut across genders and ages 16-90, provided they have hands and can see.

We are delighted to organise this historic event which is first of its kind in Lagos and is expected to grow nationwide.

The game of Ludo is not new, but it is yet to be transformed to be an event that would bring together for the purpose of recreation and national cohesion.

Our ultimate purpose is to bring the game to limelight, reduce stress, tension, improve reasoning, increase creativity, focus and strategy.

We also intend to reward players accordingly as we project a wide acceptance of the game, she said.

The Ludo National Championship is being supported by the Lagos State Sports Commission and the Redeemers University, Ede. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Oluwole Sogunle

Source: NAN News

By Okuanwan Offiong

Nigerian Association of Technologists in Engineering (NATE), Lagos State Chapter, says it will collaborate with the National Productivity Centre (NPC) to ensure full utilisation of the states raw materials to create wealth and boost employment.

The Lagos State Chairman of NATE, Mr Kayode ibidapo said this when he visited NPC on Wednesday in Lagos.

Ibidapo said the collaboration would also promote the quality of Made in Nigeria goods for export.

He said the collaboration would include acceleration of local capacity in fabrication of agricultural equipment to promote value addition on farm produce.

To achieve the objective, the association has contacted several stakeholders in the fabrication of equipment for agriculture and other sectors.

In the synergy with NPC, NATE will be looking at the possibility of training large numbers of youths on design, fabrication, and maintenance of agro equipment to boost food production, he said.

Ibidapo commended local manufacturers and urge them to ensure their product finishing was near perfection.

The Deputy Director, NPC, Mrs Joyce Binitie lauded NATE, Lagos State Chapter, for the visit.

Binitie said the collaboration would reposition the nations workforce for increased productivity.

Binitie, who decried the low productivity of an average Nigerian worker, called on the need to build the capacity of workers to enhance their efficiency.

Benitie said that the centre was set up in 1987 to create productivity consciousness in the mind of Nigerians.

She, however, said the centre had not been able to do much due to several challenges such as paucity of funds. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Joe Idika

Source: NAN News

By Stanley Nwanosike

National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has partnered 82 Division Nigerian Army on emergency and disaster response and management issues in the South-East zone.

Acting Zonal Coordinator of NEMA, Mr Thickman Tanimu, said this when he paid a courtesy visit to the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 82 Division, Maj.-Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, in Enugu on Wednesday.

He said that the visit was at the behest of the NEMA Director-General, Mr Mustapha Habib-Ahmed who, he stated, was desirous of keeping the agencys age-long relationship with the army.

He noted that the visit, which also served as his familiarisation visit to the division, was meant to reawaken the long time relationship between the army and NEMA in the zone.

Tanimu requested for a focal officer from the division whom the agency could be relating with on any emergency response or disaster management situation in the zone.

The NEMA coordinator also requested for an update on NEMAs excavator in the care of the army as well as access to water during emergencies.

This important visit, directed by our director-general, is to reawaken the age-long synergy in emergency coordination and collaboration with the Nigerian Army, especially the 82 Division, Enugu.

NEMA is here to also strengthen military disaster response units (DRUs) in the South-East zone as well as the security and intelligence gathering and sharing on emergency and disaster issues in the zone, he said.

Responding, the GOC thanked the NEMA director-general, zonal coordinator and his team for the visit.

He said that the army was always eager and ready to work with NEMA during disaster and emergency situations.

I am assigning Brig.-Gen. Olugbemi Obasanjo to act as the focal person to NEMA in the zone.

Obasanjo will also help NEMA with DRU equipment, if required, and for the security of the warehouse, he said.

The GOC said that the NEMA excavator kept in the care of the army was still in the military barracks, even as he requested that the zonal office designate an official to always inspect it.

I have also approved that NEMA watertanker be allowed express access to water from the barracks so long as there is water in the reservoir, he added.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that highlights of the event were presentation of a plaque to the zonal coordinator by the GOC and a group photograph between the principal officers of the division and the NEMA team. (NAN) ()

Edited by Wale Sadeeq

Source: NAN News

By Ismaila Chafe

President Muhammadu Buhari has urged officials of National Population Commission (NPC) to justify governments confidence in them by returning accurate, verifiable and dependable data.

The Presidents Media Aide, Malam Garba Shehu, in a statement issued on Wednesday, said that the president made the call during a trial census exercise in Daura, Katsina State, on Wednesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the first phase of Census 2023 the trial house listing and house numbering took off officially in selected local government areas of the country on Wednesday.

To mark the commencementof the exercise, the commission accredited the president in his country home in Daura, Katsina State.

I am happy you have started the process, and I say congratulations. I know this will require lots of time, skill and stamina, Buhari told the NPC team, led by the Chairman, Nasir Kwarra.

After the digital capturing, the NPC chairman explained the modalities and technicalities of the population and housing census to the president.

Kwarra said that Buhari had been designated number one on the list from Daura, Katsina, while his house was also made the first.

He said the trial census commenced with the president, following the conclusion of the training of field functionaries for the exercise.

According to him, the officials will hold the fieldwork of the trial census from July 13 to July 30 in the selected enumeration areas and local government areas (LGAs) in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

He said the trial census, also known as census dress rehearsal, was one of the pre-census activities to evaluate all aspects of the census operation on a limited scale before the main census.

It is the process in which all census operations are tested in a detailed and comprehensive manner to assess the level of preparedness of the commission to conduct the 2023 Population and Housing Census.

The trial census shall cover a total of 7,681 enumeration areas (EAs) in the 36 states and the FCT.

Six LGAs have been selected from the six selected states in the six geo-political zones of the country for full population enumeration, while 45 EAs in nine LGAs, cutting across three senatorial districts, were selected from each of the 36 states and the FCT for enumeration, he added.

The trial census fieldwork includes: building numbering and household listing from July 13 to July 15; validation of EA frame from July 16 to July 18; persons enumeration from July 19 to July 25 and enumeration mop up from July 26 to July 30, Kwarra said.

NAN reports that as part of the exercise, enumerators are expected to visit all residential and non-residential buildings within the selected enumeration areas and number the buildings and enumerate members of households in the buildings.

NAN also reports that at the end of the trial census exercise, NPC is expected to take away lessons on its chosen methodology, work load, challenges of data collection in peculiar areas and the education as well as the adequacy of the preparation of its enumerators.(NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Wale Sadeeq

Source: NAN News

The Debt Management Office (DMO), says Nigeria does not face the risk of experiencing debt distress due to its 15.9 billion dollars Eurobonds.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 15.9 billion dollars Eurobond is the foreign component of the debt Nigeria owes.

The DMO said this in a statement posted on its website on Wednesday.

The statement was in reaction to an alarm raised by a member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Robert Asogwa.

Asogwa had expressed worry over the countrys rising debt, particularly the increasing accumulation of Eurobonds in the external debt component.

The unexplained government preference of Eurobonds at high interest costs, with the associated exchange rate, risk may likely hurt Nigeria sooner than anticipated.

The escalating fiscal sector deficits with the attendant rising debt ratios are part of the weak links in the domestic economic environment.

The poor revenue growth in a period of expanding government expenditures has continued to soar the budget deficit levels in the first quarter of 2022, similar to the trend witnessed in 2021, he said.

According to the DMO, Asogwas statements might have been made without consideration for the countrys borrowing needs as captured in the Annual Budgets, Medium Term Expenditure Framework and the Debt Management Strategy.

It said that successive Debt Management Strategies had always indicated that the Federal Governments preferred source of borrowing was concessional sources rather than commercial sources like Eurobonds.

For instance, one of the objectives of the Debt Management Strategy 2020-2023 is maximising funds available to Nigeria from multilateral and bilateral sources in order to access cheaper and long tenored funds, it said.

It said that it was an indication that the authorities took cognisance of the limited funding envelopes available to the country due to its classification as Lower-Middle-Income country.

Given the size of new borrowings in the annual budgets over the years, it will not have been proper for the Federal Government to raise all the funds from the domestic market.

That will result to government crowding the private sector and raising borrowing rates. Consequently, some part of the required funding has to be raised externally, it said.

The DMO said that concessional loans, though relatively cheaper, were limited in amount and were not available for financing infrastructure and other capital projects.

Thus, Nigeria accesses concessional and semi-concessional loans as may be available, while issuing Eurobonds to part-fiance the annual budgets and the infrastructure projects contained therein, it said.

On the fear of the country slipping into debt-distress, the DMO emphasised the need to generate more revenues, significantly beyond the current levels. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Ese E. Eniola Williams

Source: NAN News