By Ramatu Garba

The Police Command in Kano State has rescued 126 workers allegedly held hostage for three months at a factory in Kano metropolis.

The workers were rescued at the Popular Farms and Mills Limited located in Challawa Industrial Estate, Kano.

The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abdullahi Haruna, confirmed this in a statement in Kano.

Haruna revealed that on June 21, at about 6:00 p.m., a complaint was received from Global Community for Human Right Network, Kano, that some labourers were wrongly confined inside the said Popular Farms and Mills.

He gave the address of the firm as No. 54 Challawa Industrial Estate, Kano.

On receiving the information a team of policemen were deployed and when search was conducted, 126 labourers trapped inside the factory for three months were rescued, he said.

According to him, four officials of the factory have been arrested.

Haruna said that the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Habu Ahmad, has ordered an investigation to unravel facts of the matter.

It was gathered the Farms and Mills company owned by Indian nationals is one of the major rice mill in Kano State.

Sources at the company said more than 70 per cent of the workers were engaged on casual basis and their salaries not harmonised in accordance with the National Minimum Wage Law.

The company engaged workers on a casual basis, only a handful of them are on a full time employment.

It is hard to comprehend the amount being paid as salaries to the workers.

Source: NAN News

President Muhammadu Buhari

By Ismaila Chafe

President Muhammadu Buhari will on Thursday attend the meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) summoned by the court recognized acting chairman of the party, Mr Victor Giadom.

Malam Garba Shehu, the Presidents Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, confirmed this via his verified tweeter handle, on Wednesday.

According to the presidential aide, the president has received very convincing advice on the position of the law as far as the situation in the party is concerned and has determined that the law is on the side of Victor Giadom as Acting National Chairman.

He said: The President has received very convincing advice on the position of the law as far as the situation in the party is concerned and has determined that the law is on the side of Victor Giadom as Acting National Chairman.

He said the president would always act in accordance with the law.

The President will be attending the virtual meeting Giadom called for tomorrow afternoon.

We urge the media to stop promoting manufactured controversies and to not give any further room for mischievous interpretations of the law on this matter.

In addition to the President, the Giadom meeting will, hopefully, be attended by our Governors and the leaders of the National Assembly, he added.(NAN)

Source: NAN News

NSE

By Chinyere Joel-Nwokeoma

Stockbrokers on the Nigerian Stock Exchange have called for more issuance of fixed income securities by the government to finance infrastructure deficit.

They described the recent over-subscription of Sukuk Ijarah, issued by the Federal Government, as a clear demonstration of the markets absorptive capacity.

The Federal Government recently floated a N150 billion Sukuk Ijarah, a financial instrument for ethical Investors that provides regular bi-annual tax-free payment with seven-year maturity and it was oversubscribed in excess of 400 percent.

Mr Olatunde Amolegbe, President, Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers, in a statement on Tuesday, urged the Federal Government to leverage such an instrument to mobilise fund to revive Nigerias ailing industrial base.

Federal Government should increase the pace of issuance of such an instrument as the market has demonstrated its absorptive capacity given the over 400% over subscription letter of the last Sukuk, Amolegbe said.

Mr Babatunde Sobamowo, Managing Director, Global Asset Management, in a statement, also said that Sukuk was becoming famous for its structure as an investment vehicle being used by the Federal Government.

Sobamowo stated that the instrument can boost implementation of the governments Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).

Sukuk confers on the subscribers ownership of the assets being financed, which in most cases are for ethical purposes.

In recent times, they are used to finance roads, railways and other infrastructure which are lacking in the country.

They will serve as catalyst to the much needed development to boost our industrial and agricultural growth which will impact positively on our GDP as clearly spelt out in the ERGP.

In order to ensure probity in the management of these underlying assets, it is advisable that Project Management Offices (PMOS) are opened in all the sites where these funds are being deployed, he said.

Sobamowo noted that it would afford all stakeholders to have an on-the-spot assessment of the projects and the expected cash flows to be generated in paying the rental incomes due to the subscribers.

On his part, Malam Garba Kurfi, the Managing Director, APT Securities and Fund, explained that the projects being executed with Sukuk proceeds were visible across the country and this enhanced the instruments patronage by investors.

The FGN Sukuk 111 was over subscribed by over 400 per cent which has not appeared in any public offer in Nigeria both in equity and bonds.

This confirmed the confidence people have in Sukuk. It can be attributed to the underlying structure of Sukuk which is based on the existing projects and people can see across the country as shown on the road network.

Therefore, the investors are living testimonies of the projects, unlike a bond which cannot be directly attached to a project, Kurfi said. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba Minister of State for Education

By Naomi Sharang

The Minster of State for Education, Mr Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba on Tuesday presented to the National Assembly a proposed date for the reopening of schools across the country as a post COVID-19 measure.

He made the presentation during a meeting with the Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education on the ministrys plans for pupils who have been forced to stay at home following the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic.

While noting that government had said that schools for some categories of students would be reopened soon, Nwajiuba said that giving a tentative date would result to misrepresentation by the public.

We said we are going to experiment with some people and these are children from exit classes.

In the document we have provided, we have suggested how we can move our education sector forward in this pandemic period.

We dont want to make it known at this period so that some people will not take our proposal for guidelines for schools reopening.

This is because people publish fake guidelines every day which I always come on air to debunk. What we have now is a proposal.

Even if the Senate has not called us, we would have come to you to discuss with you because we have already discussed with the House of Representatives.

The documents were presented to you so that you can criticise and make inputs as major stakeholders.

He, however, expressed concern over the decision of Oyo State Government to reopen its primary and secondary schools in spite the current rising cases of Coronavirus infection in the country.

Nwajiuba wondered why the government of Oyo state which was currently battling with increase cases of new infections, should be eager to throw open the gates of its schools when its neighbouring states, were employing caution.

He said, Why is Oyo state talking of reopening schools when it has just started recording increase cases of Coronavirus infection.

Just beside Oyo is Ogun which was part of the three states under the FGs lockdown since April is not talking about schools reopening.

Vice Chairperson of the Committee, Sen. Akon Eyakenyi, who presided over the meeting, expressed the fears that the academic calendar could be distorted in public schools where no visible arrangement was being made to teach the children at home unlike their private schools counterparts.

She said public schools students were made to rely on educational programmes on radio and television stations whereas they tune to stations showing cartoons whenever there was no adult to guide them.

Eyakenyi said that children in public schools had no access to online classes like their counterparts in the private schools.

She noted that the arrangement regarding radio and television stations was not working.

Even when the students in the cities have access to education programmes on radio and televisions, what of those in the villages? What do we do so that we dont shut them out?

If government can give guidelines for the reopening of churches and mosques, stakeholders in the education sector could also hold a meeting with the government to agree on guidelines for schools reopening.

All we need to do is to come up with measures that would ensure the safety of both the students and their teachers.

We can design a plan that would make sure that not all the students resume at the same time. We could probably start with the exit classes.

We could have the numbers of students that would go to school in both the morning and afternoon sessions.

We have to be innovative in our approach to save our educational sector in this country because nobody knows how long the virus will be with us. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Soil Degradation

By Felicia Imohimi

The Nigeria Institute of Soil Science (NISS) says it is rolling out five years strategic action plan to address the challenges of soil degradation and food security in the country.

The Registrar of the institute, Prof. Victor Chude, and made this known in a statement made available to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Abuja on Tuesday.

Chude noted that the implementation of the action plan is geared toward addressing the challenges of soil degradation, protection of the soil, promotion of sustainable soil management, ultimately leading to food and nutrition security in the country.

According to him, the Action Plan, which its implementation will run between June 2020 and 2025, has been categorized into five thematic areas (Pillars one to five) for effective and efficient coordination and monitoring.

He listed the five pillars to include:
Promotion of sustainable management of soil resources for soil protection, conservation and sustainable productivity; Encourage investment, technical cooperation, policy, education, awareness and extension in soil.

Promote targeted soil research and development focusing on identified gaps, priorities and synergies with related productive, environmental and social development actions by assessing and prioritising soil related research gaps.

Enhance the quantity and quality of soil data and information: data collection and generation, analysis, validation, reporting, monitoring and integration with other disciplines.

The fifth pillar is harmonisation of methods, measurements and indicators for the sustainable management and protection of soil resources.

NAN reports that NISS is saddled with the mandate of regulating the profession of soil science as well as providing a scientific basis for enhancing and sustaining productivity of soil resources with minimal environmental degradation, especially with regard to food production in the country. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

CBN Headquarters

Mr Isaac Nkole, the National Chairman, Isun Multipurpose Cooperative Society, Umuahia, said at least 2,000 persons had so far benefited from the facility of CBN COVID-19 loan in the South-East and South-South,

Nkole stated this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia on Tuesday.

He further stated that the facility had provided succour to benefiting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and households in the two zones.

According to him, the loan has helped a number of households and SMEs to remain afloat, in spite of the harsh impact of COVID-19 pandemic.

This is the first time poor masses in Nigeria are getting interest-free federal loans without stress.

It is amazing and it has restored the hope of many homes today, Nkole said,

He said that each beneficiary in the household category got about N500,000 repayable after three years.

He advised the beneficiaries to invest the money wisely, in order to grow their businesses and economy, saying that this is a loan and not grant.

Nkole further spoke on the gains of the Federal Governments N-Power programme in poverty reduction and youth employment vis-a-vis the plan to disengage the beneficiaries.

He said that the initiative had justified its existence and should be strengthened for greater achievements rather than discontinuing with the programme.

He said, N-Power has made tremendous impact in some key sectors of the economy, like agriculture and education.

He said that the programme had brought significant improvement in the education sector with the deployment of university graduates to teach in the primary school system.

He said that the development had engendered quality primary education, especially in rural communities.

Nkole said: The introduction of N-Power stands out as one of the best policies of the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari.

A lot of graduates have been gainfully engaged through the scheme. Some of them are in N-Teach, N-Agro, N-Tax and N-build.

He argued that discontinuing with the programme would be counterproductive, saying, it will be like killing the bird that lays the golden egg.

NAN reports that the federal government had announced that the process of engaging the batch C of N-Power volunteer would begin on June 26, with the opening of the engagement portal at noon.

It also announced that those in batch A, engaged since 2016 and their counterparts in batch B, engaged in 2018 would exit the scheme on June 30, and July 31, respectively. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Dr Muhammed Pate, Former Minister of health

By Franca

Former Minister of State for Health, Dr Muhammed Pate has advocated the need for the Federal Government to build strong health delivery systems and properly finance them to achieve vaccine preventable diseases.

Pate, who made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday, congratulated Nigeria for being certified polio-free by the Africa Regional Certification Commission for Polio Eradication (ARCC).

He said that building strong delivery systems was key to human capital accumulation and the great future possible for Nigeria.

Nigeria now needs to keep the promise of no child should die from a vaccine preventable cause, he said.

The former health minister said that the achievement was due to the collective efforts and continuity of the past and present government.

According to him, Nigeria can achieve amazing things, if it puts its collective mind to it.

Congratulations for achieving certification of eradication of poliomyelitis with tremendous effort and sacrifices by so many over so long and from all over the world, he said. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

COVID-19

By Maureen Ojinaka

The Enugu State Government has announced 68 new cases of the novel coronavirus disease thus, bringing the total number of cases in the state to 144.

The states Commissioner for Health, Prof. Ikechukwu Obi, made the announcement in a statement in Enugu.

Obi said that the Ministry of Health confirmed the 68 new cases inthe update by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

The Enugu State Ministry of Health confirms 68 new cases of COVID-19 in the state.

The total number of positive cases of COVID-19 in Enugu State is now 144 cases, comprising of 110 active cases 29 discharged and five deaths.

The number of health-worker infested in the state stands at 49, he said.

According to him,some misconceptions over spread of the pandemic in the state is not out place.

It has become necessary to correct the impression and inform the public that Enugu has had its share of COVID-19 infections, just as it is happening all over the world.

No individual category has been spared by the pandemic.

Consequently, men, women, children, old and young, people of every profession and socio-economic class have been affected.

The state ministry of health COVID-19 response team continues to follow the protocol and public health advisories of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 as well as that of the Federal Ministry of Health, in responding to the pandemic. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Dr Chikwe Ikekweazu NCDC Boss

Source: NAN News

Gov. Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti State

Gov. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State on Monday signed the Revised/Supplementary Appropriation Bill of N91.128 billion into law.

This was in response to the prevailing economic challenges occasioned by unprecedented fall in the price of crude oil and other prevailing economic indices.

Fayemi assented to the Revised/Supplementary Appropriation bill at the Conference Hall, Governors Office, in line with the COVID-19 protocol, which permits very few number of attendees with strict observance of physical distancing.

The bill, according to the governor, reflect the downward review of the initial budget of N124.724,869,355.85 to N91,128,996,482.1, representing a 27 per cent reduction in size.

The revised budget is made up of a recurrent expenditure of N59.63 billion and capital expenditure of N32.65 billion, representing a ratio of 55:35 per cent, Fayemi explained.

The governor explained that the revised/supplementary budget became expedient as a result of the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) which dealt a debilitating blow on our macroeconomic projections.

He said this made the initial budget which was prepared in the underlying assumption of relative stability of major macroeconomic parameters unrealistic.

He said: The pandemic rendered our economy prostrate with an unprecedented fall in the price of crude oil in the global market.

The volatility in the oil price coupled with the reduction in oil production and devaluation of the Naira to the Dollar made our revenue projections for 2020 Budget unrealistic.

To mitigate the effect of the pandemic on our economy, it becomes imperative to review our 2020 budget and prepare a supplementary budget which would be responsive to our time and circumstances.

Consequently, 2020 budget was put together to ensure that our meager resources was committed to critical areas of the economy, to include Health and Environmental Response, interventions.

This is with a view to improving the standard of living of the people, ensuring food security in the Agricultural sector, improved the ease of doing business and other multi-sectoral responses, Fayemi said.

The governor disclosed that the budget was designed to also focus on critical legacy projects, after taking into cognisance of the dwindling revenue accruing to the state from the federation account.

He revealed that the revised/supplementary budget incorporated the guidelines for the State Fiscal Transparency and Accountability (SFTAS) Programme-for-Result,

Fayemi stressed that the current economic situation does not give room for frivolities but sacrifice, charging all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and other stakeholders to maintain budget discipline in the execution of the budget.

The governor commended members of the state House of Assembly for expediting action on the passage of the financial bill, saying that the budget is the outcome of a wider community and public engagement.

Earlier in his address, the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mr Funminiyi Afuye, said the revised/supplementary budget was passed by members of the legislature following due consultation with relevant MDAs and other stakeholders in cognisance of the current economic reality of the country as affected by the outbreak of COVID-19.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the brief ceremony was witnessed by the Deputy Governor, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi; Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr Funminiyi Afuye; Deputy Speaker, Hakeem Jamiu; Members of the state House of Assembly; Secretary to the State Government, Biodun Oyebanji; Head of Service, Mrs Peju Babafemi, among other stakeholders.

Source: NAN News