NEWS AGENCY OF NIGERIA
Kalu advocates legal reforms to enhance timely, effective justice delivery
Judiciary

Kalu advocates legal reforms to enhance timely, effective justice delivery

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By Uche Anunne

The Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has advanced reforms in the nation’s legal system to accommodate emerging technologies to enhance justice delivery in a timely and efficient manner.

He also charged Nigerian lawyers to innovate and venture into emerging spaces in the legal profession or lose global relevance.

Kalu said this on Wednesday in Abuja while delivering a keynote at the 2025 Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Week of the Abuja branch of the lawyers’ body.

“As members of NBA, embrace innovation, expanding your practice in emerging fields; reform outdated laws and rethink approach to legal education,’’ Kalu said.

The week-long programme has as its theme: `Unlocking Opportunities: New Frontiers.”

Kalu said it was unfortunate that while lawyers in advanced parts of the country were breaking new frontiers, most of their counterparts in Nigeria were still involved in civil and criminal litigations.

According to him, branching into unfamiliar terrains such as space law, Artificial Intelligence (AI), cryptocurrency and wealth management, among others will keep Nigerian lawyers abreast of global best practices.

He said it would also open windows of wealth and other opportunities available in those fields.

The lawmaker said it was important for the nation’s judicial system and legal practitioners to fully embrace emerging technologies such as AI.

He said by doing so, justice delivery would be more affordable and available in a timely manner.

Kalu observed that some of the factors responsible for failure of Nigerians to fully embrace the legal system were delayed justice and expensive nature of litigation.

“Justice system must ensure access to justice. Unfortunately, this is being hampered by high cost of prosecuting cases,’’ he said.

Kalu said technologies such as virtual court sitting and prosecution would not only help in reducing the cost of accessing justice but also ensure fairness and robust record keeping.

He argued that with virtual transmission of court sittings, presiding officers would be conscious of the fact that happenings in their courts could be easily recorded and accessed by both interested and non-interested parties.

The lawmaker said reforms in the legal system would address areas such as copyright and data protection in jurisprudence.

“The legal profession is not static but dynamic. You should invest in building expertise and global best practices,” he said.

Earlier, the chairman of the Abuja branch of NBA, Mr Steve Emelieze, said the event was expected to open lawyers in the area to emerging realities in the legal profession.

“Today in the global environment, the legal profession is confronted with unpredicted challenges and opportunities.

“As custodians of the law, it is incumbent upon us to harness these opportunities to innovate and adapt, ensuring that justice and rule of law continue to thrive in our society.

“The legal profession must rise to the challenges of a rapidly changing world where technology, globalisation, economic pressure and social transformation are redrawing the boundaries of law and justice,’’ he said. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Remi Koleoso/Joseph Edeh

NTI mulls 774 study centres
Education

NTI mulls 774 study centres

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By Moses Kolo

The National Teachers’ Institute (NTI) plans to establish study centres in the 774 local government areas in Nigeria.

Its Director/Chief Executive, Prof. Sadiya Sani-Daura, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna.

She said the study centres would be fully equipped and staffed to enhance its operations, as part of efforts to make its services accessible to Nigerians irrespective of their places of domicile.

“Already, we have state-of-the-art zonal and state centres, and we will leverage on this feat to make the planned LGA centres to succeed,” she said.

According to Sani-Daura, the institute is fully committed to ensuring that Nigerian teachers upgrade their capacities.

”Everybody can update and improve his or her capacity. We are out to ensure that Nigerian teachers achieve this in no distant time.”

This, she said, was extremely imperative so that teachers would not lag behind, and make them to be in tune with extant global trends in teaching and learning.

Sani-Daura highlighted that the world has moved on, leveraging on emerging technologies, new teaching and learning methods, hence teachers in Nigeria must urgently catch up with the world.

She reiterated commitment to transform the NTI into a world-class teacher training institution in line with its statutory mandates.

The director said the institute had commenced the award of Degrees, Post-Graduate Diploma and Advanced Diploma in Education in affiliation with universities like ABU Zaria, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, University of Maiduguri and the Nmadi Azikiwe University, among others.

Sani-Daura stressed that education is critical to providing plausible solutions to the problems bedevilling Nigeria.

“Yes, with proper attention given to the education sector at all levels, we will get solutions to all our problems including crimes and criminality.” (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Bashir Rabe Mani

Teachers’ enrolment in NTI rising – Director
Education

Teachers’ enrolment in NTI rising – Director

402 total views today

By Moses Kolo

Prof. Sadiya Sani-Daura, Director/Chief Executive of the National Teachers’ Institute (NTI), Kaduna, says the recent innovations at the institute accounted for the rising enrollment of teachers.

Sani-Daura said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the institute’s headquarters in Kaduna.

She recalled that before her assumption of office in November 2024, the institute’s moribund server of about 40 years had collapsed.

“When I came in, our exams processing server was grounded and because of that, for about three semesters, results had not been released and this caused agitations by beneficiaries some of who took us to court.

“The server was about 40 years old, so naturally it has seen better days so it failed but thank God we have now replaced it with a cloud-based server.

“We revived it and migrated the data in it so that we have now retrieved the information in it and it is now being processed and settled all the grievances as well as court cases now history.

“The earlier problem led to the declining of our students enrollment but now it is rising as we have also released a bag log of certificates.

“Hopefully, we are making a comeback in a very strategic way and assuming our position, playing the critical role expected from us as part of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda,” she said.

Sani-Daura said the feat helped to end delays in the issuance of certificates to qualified teachers in the country.

She said upon her assumption, the institute had among other achievements, installed solar systems at the Directorate and Liaison Office in Abuja as the first phase of its solar installation.

“In NTI, with the critical need for constant power supply, we needed a backup because of the challenge of energy.

“Also is the realigning roles and responsibilities through the restructuring of the institute’s organogram which had to be a little bit modified so that it is all set transparency and accountability.

“We equally inaugurated a standing committee for quality service delivery, among others.”(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Bashir Rabe Mani

NTI boss hails Tinubu’s education reengineering initiatives
Education

NTI boss hails Tinubu’s education reengineering initiatives

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By Moses Kolo

Prof. Sadiya Sani-Daura, Director and Chief Executive, National Teachers’ Institute (NTI), Kaduna, has commended President Bola Tinubu for reengineering the education sector in the country.

The Tinubu administration has introduced sound programmes to advance professionalism in teacher training under its Renewed Hope Agenda.

Sani-Daura said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), at the NTI headquarters in Kaduna.

She said that the institute had witnessed remarkable strides with the support of the Federal Education of Ministry, which was adding positive value to the education sector in the country.

“We are lucky to have a Minister and a State Minister, a duo of very active and committed ministers, who are overseeing to ensuring excellence.

“My position as the Director/Chief Executive of NTI to me, is to contribute my quota to the development of education, which I feel is key to addressing most of our problems as a nation.

“The NTI has the support of the Federal Ministry of Education, and is puting all necessary machinery in place to achieving it’s desired goals.

“We are being carried along with the ministry and that is all we want. To be given the chance to perform our duties.

“Bear in mind that the NTI is national but we also partner with states to provide teacher training needed through our zonal offices,” she said.

According to Sani-Daura, NTI is also creating study centres in all the 774 local government areas of the federation, saying, so that we can be accessible for easy coordination.

The director said the NTI in the next five to 10 years would be the leader in teacher training, a world class teacher training institute.

“In Nigeria, we want to be a regulatory body that monitors what happens both in the private and public sectors with respect to teacher training.

“NTI in its Act, is mandated to train teachers at all levels and this entails from primary to tertiary levels in Nigeria,” she said.

Sani-Daura said that NTI had the potentials to expand training to undeserved communities through the use of technologies.

She said institute had established an ICT department and tallied its organogram in tandem with the global realities in teacher education.

“NTI can train and develop the capacity of more teachers in the country.

“There is population growth and this goes hand-in-hand with the demand, therefore, we want to cover the boost in population.

“It can also contribute to the development of effective curricular in all levels of education development and that is our mandate.” (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Bashir Rabe Mani

Minister tasks ITF board  to address industries’ needs
Economy/Business

Minister tasks ITF board  to address industries’ needs

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By Vivian Emoni

The Minister of State for Industry, Sen. John Enoh, has urged the newly inaugurated board of Industrial Training Fund (ITF), to implement programmes that would address industries’ need in the country.

Enoh said this while inaugurating the Governing Board of the ITF on Thursday in Abuja.

He urged the board to develop and implement training programmes that would address the current and future needs of various industries in the country.

“Secondly, I expect the board to foster partnerships with industry, the academia and other stakeholders to ensure the relevance and effectiveness of the training programmes.

”Then finally, I expect that the board is going to ensure that the ITF resources are utilise efficiently and effectively to maximise impact, ” he said.

The minister said that President Bola Tinubu’s eight-point agenda involved diversification through industrialisation and digitisation.

He said that the entire world was in an era where technology and digitisation had become the imperative.

“Leadership of the board can get the ITF to run those kinds of training programmes that can actually respond to the need,” he said.

Enoh said that the inauguration marked a pivotal moment in Nigeria’s drive to bridge workforce skill gaps and align talent development with industry demands.

He emphasised the critical role of the ITF in preparing Nigeria’s workforce for a highly competitive global economy.

He tasked the board to advocate for technology-driven training programmes, industry-academia partnerships, and strategic resource utilisation to accelerate progress.

“As this board is inaugurated today, I charge you with the responsibility of staring ITF toward achieving its mandates.

“I believe that your expertise, experience and dedication will continue to be instrumental in terms of your ability.

“So you are meant to contribute and to help in terms of the delivery of the mandates of the ITF,” he said.

Speaking, the Chairman of the board, Mr Hamma Alikumo, said the board would ensure that it achieved the mandates of the ITF.

Alikuma thanked the president, the minister and other members of the board for the success of the programme. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Maureen Ojinaka/Kadiri Abdulrahman

FG inaugurates governing board to strengthen sugar council
Economy/Business

FG inaugurates governing board to strengthen sugar council

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By Vivian Emoni

The Federal Government has inaugurated a Governing Board for the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), to strengthen and enhance its activities.

Minister of State for Industry, Sen. John Owan Enoh, while inaugurating the Governing Board of the NSDC in Abuja on Thursday, said that the council should intensify efforts in its activities, to achieve its mandates and goals.

The minister said that the inauguration of the board would help to strengthen the council and enhance its activities.

He urged the board to work assiduously to ensure that within the next three months, they would be able to achieve good results.

“I mean urgent work needs to be done.

“We need to be committed and work together to ensure we strengthen the growth of the council.

“As the reporting minister, I must be ready to brief the President on the level of steps that have been taken to make sure that we are able to achieve the goals and mandates of the council.

“We must ensure that we make progress and ensure that the purpose of the inaugurating the board is achieved respectively,” he said.

The minister also urged the board to be committed to ensuring effective implementation of the brownfield backward integration projects.

“We must ensure that the sites are being worked upon. We should identify if there are sites that are fertile enough for the growing of sugarcane.

“If they are not, the council will provide guidance to know the land that is available.

“We must all be committed to doing the work, to make sure that we progress,’’ he said.

The minister reminded the council of how competitive the market was.

“We are competing with countries like Brazil that have been in this business for upwards of several years.

“So, our competitors are our seedlings that we are planting.

“We are not just talking about producing in-country, but the cost effectiveness of that production is important because of the competition that we are all involved in,’’ he said.

Responding, Chairman of the board, Sen. Surajudeen Basiru, thanked the minister and the President for the opportunity given to him and other members of the board.

Basiru said that the board would work hard to offer good performance and ensure the council’s achieve its goals and mandates.

“We have been given three months to make sure we deliver and bring a positive result.

“We will try our best to ensure that we don’t disappoint the minister and Nigerians at large,’’ he said. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Vivian Ihechu

Pensioners urge Kaduna govt to defray N20bn pension liabilities
General News

Pensioners urge Kaduna govt to defray N20bn pension liabilities

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By Hussaina Yakubu

The National Union of Pensioners (NUP), has urged Gov. Uba Sani of Kaduna State, to pay the N20 billion outstanding pension liabilities owed its members

The State Secretary of the union, Alhassan Balarabe-Musa, said this on Thursday in Kaduna while commenting to the 2025 International Workers’ Day.

He said the Sani administration inherited over N30 billion pension liabilities at its inauguration on May 29,2023.

“The governor has paid over N3.6 billion in 2023. In all, he has paid over N10.4 billion to date.

“We are grateful that he has settled part of the inherited pension liabilities but more efforts should be made in this direction,” he said.

Balarabe-Musa, however, lamented those under the contributory pension scheme were yet to receive payment from 2017 to date.

The scribe said that workers disengaged in 2017, especially those in the service of the local government councils were yet to be paid as their records have been declared missing.

He, therefore, urged the governor to do the needful for this category of pitiable pensioners to get their entitlements, adding that, “this will greatly help in alleviating their sufferings as most of them and their dependents are now living from hand to mouth.”

Alhassan Balarabe-Musa, NUP Secretary, Kaduna State

Balarabe-Musa also advocated for the implementation of the N32,000 pension increase approved by the Federal Government.

“So, if the increase is implemented, pensioners in the state will receive a minimum of N62,000 monthly pension.

“I want the governor to be the second one to implement it as only Yobe is the only state that has so far done so across Nigeria.

“He should emulate his predecessor who was the first governor to implement the N30,000 minimum pension in February 2020.”

The NUP scribe further urged the governor to provide a bus and a plot of land for it to build a befitting State Secretariat

He decried, ” The union had 15 houses at the Marafa Estate in Kaduna city, which were sold at the tale end of the Nasir El-Rufai administration.

“The exercise violated all extant due process regulations as the houses were sold at a paltry sum of N200million, with even no records to where the money went.

“We, therefore, want the governor to probe these sales, revoke it and retrieve these houses for NUP,” he said, adding that the state government provided vehicles to all the trade unions except the NUP. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Bashir Rabe Mani

PEBEC boss restates readiness to work with MDAs
Economy/Business

PEBEC boss restates readiness to work with MDAs

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MDAs

Abuja, April 17, 2025 (NAN) Ms Zahrah Audu, Director-General, Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), has reiterated the council’s readiness to work with heads of government agencies to enhance service delivery.

Audu stated this in a communiqué at the end of a retreat for Heads of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), on Thursday in Abuja.

She said that this was aimed at improving their level of service delivery to align with the council’s goal of creating a more enabling business environment.

The director-general also called for enhanced synergy among MDAs, to ensure the ease of doing business in the country.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Sen. George Akume and Vice President Kashim Shettima commended Audu’s performance and commitment to service.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the retreat is part of the Federal Government’s efforts to improve the ease of doing business in the country.

PEBEC, established in July 2016 by the federal government to oversee Nigeria’s business environment intervention, is tasked with the dual mandate of removing bureaucratic and legislative constraints to doing business.

It is also mandated to deliver Nigeria’s business environment reform with the dual mandate to remove bureaucratic and legislative constraints to doing business. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Deji Abdulwahab

TETFund partners agencies to boost AI studies in higher institutions
Education

TETFund partners agencies to boost AI studies in higher institutions

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By Funmilayo Adeyemi

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), says it will partner with relevant agencies to boost Artificial Intelligence (AI) studies in the Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.

The Executive Secretary of TETFund, Mr Sonny Echono, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday.

He said the Fund had drastically scaled up textbook production in addition to other initiatives such as ICT centres to position Nigeria as a leader in AI in Africa.

He said this was part of TETFund’s contribution to the nation’s quest to tap into the multi-trillion dollars global digital economy.

According to him, AI is one of the few subject areas where the Fund could send scholars abroad for further training because it had not fully developed in Nigeria.

“We don’t send anybody outside anymore. But AI is a new and expanding field. It is one of the few areas we are training people abroad because we want to lead in Africa,’’ he said.

He said the Fund had supported the development of AI textbooks, covering topics such as AI in teaching and learning, ethics, and curriculum development.

Echono said the aim was to boost the use of AI and to get the tertiary institutions to begin to exploit and use it in teaching and learning.

He said that in addition to book development, TETFund had trained over 3,000 scholars in AI and emerging ICT trends in the last two years in collaboration with leading institutions.

He explained that the initiative had resulted in the ICT training of over 17,000 educators through the International Computer Driving License (ICDL) programme.

“We started with general ICT training because we’ve been doing a lot of ICT training. If the teacher is not ICT-savvy, even for him to put his lecture on the platform is a problem.

“For him to interact with the students on the platform or to send his mark, to do his marking scheme, to relate, to get presentations, even zoom meetings would be a problem he must be ICT literate.

“After that we started letting them understand how they can use ICT, how they can leverage on it to improve the quality of their delivery and the experiences of their students,” he said.

“We want to leapfrog others in ICT, robotics. We are coming very strong in robotics now, but we are late comers, some people are already doing it before us.

“But we don’t want anybody to be ahead of us on this continent. So we are pushing those frontiers,” he said.

Echono also said that the present TETFund management inherited a stagnated book development programme that published only 20 books in 13 years.

He said that upon assuming office in 2022, he challenged the book development committee to meet ambitious targets of producing more books.

“I said, in the first year, you must do 50, if not I’m going to disband it, we’re wasting money coming to do meetings, talking, and not seeing the books.

“Later, I said I want to see up to 100 books being published and they said it can be done. We’ll give you all the support, publicise and advertise to Nigerian authors.

“We identified the subjects where we do not have enough textbooks. We tasked the professors and all the experts in that field to put things in order,” he said.

Echono said that this challenge spurred the book development committee as TETFund published 50 books in 2023, another 60 shortly after with another tranche of 50 textbooks published recently.

He explained that another batch of 50 textbooks was currently in under production. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Uche Anunne

National Housing Fund collection hits N103bn in 2024 – FMBN
Economy/Business

National Housing Fund collection hits N103bn in 2024 – FMBN

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By Angela Atabo

The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), says the National Housing Fund (NHF) collection has increased to N103 billion in 2024.

Shehu Osidi, the Managing Director and Chief Executive of the bank, stated this at a news conference on Wednesday in Abuja.

He said the bank achieved a record-breaking collection for the NHF, which is the highest since inception.

The manager said the bank, under his stewardship, set out a bold vision to transform its operations through efficiency and transparency, to positively impact Nigeria’s housing and mortgage finance sector.

According to Osidi, the focus has been on institutional reforms, financial sustainability, and stronger stakeholder collaboration to ensure the bank effectively delivered affordable housing solutions to Nigerians.

“Under the NHF operations, our collections grew by N3 billion in 2024 resulting in a total collection of N103 billion, compared to the N100 billion recorded in 2023.

“This increase in NHF contributions demonstrates renewed trust and participation in the NHF scheme by Nigerian workers,” he said.

Osidi said that a total of 658 organisations and 178,619 employees had been registered in 2024 compared to 556 and 113,577 in 2023, respectively.

He said the bank also signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the Kano state government on Jan. 31, to facilitate the return of its workers to the NHF scheme after a 24-year absence.

This, he said, would significantly boost NHF collections in 2025, given the Kano state’s workforce of over 160,000 employees.

Osidi said the bank had made notable financial improvements, recording an operational surplus of N11.58 billion in its 2024 management accounts.

“This is the first such experience since FMBN came into existence over 30 years ago.

“Although this figure is expected to decrease significantly after applying impairment, we are taking a proactive approach to address all aspects of our operations that contribute to high impairments.

“This includes tackling the high volume of non-performing loans inherited by the current management..

“We are also pursuing with great efforts the recapitalisation of the bank. A grossly inadequate capital of N2.5 billion hinders the capacity of the bank to perform optimally.

“These achievements underscore our commitment to ensuring that FMBN remains a financially viable institution, capable of fulfilling its mandate of driving affordable homeownership in Nigeria,” he said

Osidi stated that under the bank’s loan operations, a total of N71.5 billion was approved in 2024, indicating a significant increase from N39.7 billion in 2023.

On refund, Osidi said that N14.4 billion was disbursed to 44,333 beneficiaries in 2024, compared to N13.2 billion paid to 40,426 beneficiaries in 2023.

According to him, the bank is heavily weighed down by Non-Performing Loans (NPLs), majorly due to the quality of credit in its books.

To address the problem, Osidi said the bank adopted proactive loan appraisal processes to improve credit quality, reduce loan defaults, and enhance recovery mechanisms.

He said that seven recovery task teams were inaugurated to recover delinquent loans in the country.

“As a direct result of this initiative, we have recovered N10.9 billion in bad loans through the recovery teams.

“This is in addition to our normal recovery activities which also yielded the sum of N3.1 billion in 2024,” he said.

The manager said the bank successfully resolved several long-standing NPL cases, with five currently awaiting final Board and Ministerial approval for exit. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Editing by Kevin Okunzuwa

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