By Peter Uwumarogie

Gov. Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State says the state government has so far spent N7.6 billion on constructing and equipping the ultra-modern motor park in the state.

Yahaya stated this while inspecting facilities at the park on Saturday.

He queried the contractor for working behind schedule saying that such would no longer be condoned by the state government as his administration is eager to ensure the utilisation of the project for the benefits of the people.

“We have invested N7.6 billion on this project and the contractor had been lagging behind and that would no longer be tolerated.

“We are eager to put the facility to use for the benefit of our people,” he said.

On the contractor’s pledge to deliver the project by September, Yahaya said “I will charge you if you don’t deliver by September ending because N7.6 billion is no small money.

“We are not owing you a kobo and so there is no reason why you shouldn’t deliver by that September,” he added.

The governor said that the state government had set up a committee to ensure seamless relocation of all existing parks in the metropolis, hence the need for the contractor to deliver by the September deadline.

He said that critical stakeholders in the transport sector in the state had given their supports as the project would be beneficial to them, create more jobs and make movement in the state easier.

According to him, the relocation of the Bauchi motor park was to give room for more developmental projects in the state, adding that a three arm zone would be cited at the location after its relocation.

“Once the motor parks are out, we shall see where we will utilise to take care of the interest of everyone as we are expanding and growing towards making Gombe a modern city,” he said.

On how the state government raised the N7.6 billion, Yahaya said the project was financed through a bond, adding that the government had commenced a post-dated payment and had been paying in installments.

He stated that the management of the motor park had been ceded to Gombe Revenue Optimisation Company Limited to work with the unions in the transport sector to recoup the money over time.

He said that the investment in the project is huge and expected to benefit the people of the state and impact positively on the economy.

Yahaya also inspected ongoing projects in the state capital which include the ongoing construction of the Sharia Court of Appeal, Bauchi Motor Park and some road projects in Gombe metropolis.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the governor had on Thursday set up a taskforce to facilitate the smooth transition of operations from three major motor parks to the ultra-modern park.

The three major motor parks to be relocated to the new park along Dukku Road when completed are Bauchi Motor Park, Dukku Motor Park and Dadinkowa Motor Park.

The ultra modern motor park has the following facilities: road networks, 250 shops, clinic, hotel with 100 people capacity, fire service station, trailer park which can contain 2,500 trailers at a time, police outpost amongst others.

The project, awarded by Ibrahim Dankwambo’s administration since 2012 at the initial contract sum of 3.2 billion naira is said to have gulped almost 2.8 billion billion naira and attained 43 per cent completion status before being allegedly abandoned.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

By Bridget Ikyado

Victims of rape and other forms of gender-based violence have been asked d to report to the relevant authorities to get help and justice.

Ms Elizabeth Bumkeng, a victim of rape and author, made the call at her book launch in Abuja on Saturday.

The book is titled: “Healing from Within… Reclaiming Life After Sexual and Gender – Based Violence”.

Bumkeng said that not reporting the matter and seeking appropriate help could lead to depression and further complications.

She said that after she was abused, she was traumatised, scared and would always have nightmares and a feeling the culprit will walk away and do same to other girls.

According to her, part of her healing process was reporting the person who abused her; which she described as a step forward towards healing for her.

Bumkeng called on all stakeholders to join in the fight against gender-based violence in the society.

“This is a clarion call for everybody, the civil societies, the community leaders, the village chiefs, the government, the lawmakers, everyone in office in whatever capacity that you are.

“This is a sole responsibility for you and I as a person to fight against sexual and gender-based violence.

“This is not a fight for me alone; as Elizabeth I have started my fight, I have written a book and this book covers ways to help survivors.

“The next step for every one of us here is to spread the news and to help join the fight. This means if you hear someone doing this, you have the right to stop any one.

“Do not say it does not concern me. It concerns each and every one of us,” she said.

She explained that the book talks about how to get healing, the relevant government agencies and their roles, the law and stipulated punishments for offenders.

“So this book is informative and I recommend it for every child, every family, every community, every government agencies, I recommend it to everyone because you need to know about the do’s and don’ts about the laws, the persecution and everything,” she said.

The chief launcher of the book, Mr Nuhu Kwajafa, said the most effective way of helping victims is by punishing the offenders.

He said that the first step is to make the police see the need to take sexual harassment very seriously.

According to him, the police take armed robbery more seriously than rape; whereas in the western world a first time robber without criminal record can be pardoned but nothing of such for a rapist.

“I have dealt with so many cases of rape where the police will tell you openly that your family should go and settle the matter at home.

“So the only way government can support the victim is that government needs to put things in place that will tackle those who are involved in

“This is because there’s no way somebody can heal when the person who committed the crime is walking free.

“Everyone has to support and play their own role. I mean, everyone has a responsibility.

“The media needs to shout it out, the media needs to call the authorities out, the media needs to bring it out that 80 per cent of sexual harassment cases are being killed by the police,” he said. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

The National Secretary Farouk at the middle during the News conference

Angela Atabo

The Julius Abure faction of the Labour Party(LP) says the claim by Lamidi Apapa that the court has affirmed him as the authentic National Chairman of the party is false.

Malam Umar Farouk, the National Secretary of the faction said this at a news conference in Abuja on Friday.

Farouk said that the Certified True Copy of the suit did not involved Abure.

“This conference is called purposely to clear the air on yet another attempt by some of our former members.

“They rebelled against the party and went ahead to shamelessly misinform members of the public on the huge progress being made to reposition LP as one of the biggest political parties in Nigeria.

“Lamidi Apapa and a few others are being sponsored, their assignment is to ensure that no progress is achieved in the party.

“The heavily funded dissidents have tried to mislead the courts and some section of the media to harass the party leadership but all have failed,” he said.

Farouk said that the Court of Appeal sitting in Benin had affirmed Abure as the National Chairman of the party.

“Only yesterday, the Court of Appeal Owerri, which sat in Abuja, gave judgement in the case brought before it by one Basil Maduka, one of the two aspirants deceived by the Apapa’s camp to participate in their illegal primaries.

“The matter was on who the real LP candidate in the Imo governorship election is and not to challenge Abure’s position as chairman.

“The court also ordered that the status quo remains with Sen. Athan Achonu as the validly nominated candidate of LP for 2023 Imo governorship election.

“It noted that Basil Maduka has no locus to seek redress in the court as he is not known by the LP, ” he said.

Farouk said that the Appeal Court in Edo had since ruled that Abure was the authentic chairman of the LP and everything done under his leadership, including nominating candidates for elections, was legal.

He said that it thus meant that whoever was not satisfied with the ruling of the Appeal Court was permitted under the law to approach the Supreme Court to seek a review of the Appeal Court judgement.

” The LP took time to explain this trajectory because these men are out to ensure that the party suffers immeasurably and they will stop at nothing from achieving the mandate of their sponsors.

”We state categorically that Achonu remains the LP’s governorship candidate in Imo as no court has stated otherwise.”

He said that the Independent National Electoral Commission had since published his name as the party’s candidate.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
===============
Edited by Ali Baba-Inuwa

By Emmanuel Olonirhua

Former presidential aide, Laolu Akande, has lauded the recent inauguration of the cabinet by President Bola Tinubu, saying the ministers can deliver on their mandates.

Akande, Spokesperson to immediate past Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, who said this on Friday, raised concerns on the need to avoid duplication of roles in ministries.

He made his views known, while responding to questions, when he featured on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday.

He, therefore, called on the president to clarify where “innovation” as a portfolio would be based and to further make public articulation of social welfare that was added to the health ministry.

According to him, there has to be clarity in the area of who takes charge of the “innovation” portfolio which has been duplicated between two ministries.

“An important thing we may have to look at is, if you look at the list of the ministries, there are two important questions the Federal Government has to answer.

“ I think the President has to answer this: number one, where is innovation?

“We have the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation and we also have the Minister of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy, which has to be sorted out.

“Are we going to have a situation where you have innovation here and you have innovation there? Probably this has been sorted out by the two ministers because reason,” he said.

Akande said that why this is important is because in the previous administration two ministries assumed that innovation portfolio was under their purview.

The former spokesperson  said that both the Science and Technology Ministry, the people in the Science and Technology and Communication and Digital Economy made such assumption.

“So you find out that there were meetings where both of them were contending tough battles so I think it is important for the president to clarify where is innovation?”

“Secondly, people have even noticed that the President now has two coordinating ministers: (Minister of Finance) and Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Social Welfare.

“So what is social welfare? Is social welfare what we used to have under Social Development which was in humanitarian affairs but no longer there?

“So, that has been changed from Humanitarian Affairs, Social Welfare and Disaster Management to Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, but social welfare is now taken to health. Now, is social welfare the same thing as social development?

“I understand what the president is trying to do by bringing social welfare in line with health is.

“While he is trying to advance the microeconomic issue in the economy may be 4-5 per cent GDP figure in a positive trajectory.

“He also wants to keep an eye on how that impacts the people in real-time, as why he brought the idea of social welfare, which is a very commendable thing.

“But it is important for us to clarify is that socio-welfare the same thing as social development?”

He also spoke on the likelihood of conflicts of interest and possible tension among ministers in the course of carrying out their duties, especially the minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, a former commissioner, who has to supervise other ministries with former governors as ministers

“What we must understand is that the Federal Executive Council is the President’s cult; it is what the president wants in terms of the setting and arrangement that would prevail.

“These ministers are appointed at the pleasure and they serve the pleasure of the president.

“He can hire and fire at any time that is the reason you can see he made some changes, which are completely within his purview by law.

“He is the one that sets the KPIs, he is the one decides by law what should be done,” Akande said.

The former presidential aide also spoke on a recent controversy on the appointment of the Minister of Art, Culture and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa.

Akande expressed his support for the minister, describing her as a “very bright and innovative person” capable of bringing innovative ideas that would take the ministry to greater heights.

“If we are able to overlook some of these issues, she is clearly a very bright and innovative person… there are clearly a lot of expectations that somebody like her might bring, new thinking to the government.

“She comes with quite a formidable profile for the job, and I think that is something good to know,” Akande said.

His comments came on the heels of accusations from the Human Rights writer’s Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), faulting Musawa, for undertaking the one-year mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme while she is still a member of President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet. (www.nannews.ng)

========

Edited by Isaac Aregbesola

By Deji Abdulwahab

The National Association of Liberated Tigers (NALT) Club International has called on the Federal Government to deep the rule of law, respect human rights and ensure the dignity of man.

Its Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT), Mr Chidi Nwokeabia, made the call on Friday at the Communion-3rd Biennial Conference, organised by NALT Club International in Abuja.

The theme of the conference is “Change Management and the Challenges and Prospects of Sustaining Institutions’’

Nwokeabia also urged the youth to eschew anger, violence and toe the line of seeking redress diligently through all lawful means.

“Our message to Nigerians and political leaders as we fashion a new Republic is to deepen the rule of law, respect human rights and ensure the dignity of man.

“In communities across the nation, I urge the youths to eschew anger, violence and toe the line of seeking redress diligently through all lawful means,’’ he said.

The BOT chairman congratulated his members who won elective offices for well- deserved victories, urging them to use their mandate to further champion the association’s ideals for social justice in the larger society.

In his keynote address, Dr Agada Elachi, who presented a paper titled “Change Management and the Challenges and Prospects of Sustaining Institutions’’ said that the only constant thing in life was change.

According to him, the change process is constant and every organisation must evolve with the times or suffer extinction.

Elachi said that leadership played a critical role in change management by setting the vision, communicating the need for change, and guiding the organisation through the change process.

“Organisational change depends on leadership, whether transformational, transactional, charismatic, visionary or situational.

“In all, a successful change manager should be able to lead and enable the people in the organisation to accept new vision, new behaviour and new culture,’’ he said.

Also, International President of NALT, Mr Obinna Amoke, said that NALT adopted the Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement (ADKAR) model of a holistic change management approach to keep the change in place.

“Change they say is the most constant thing on earth and yet it is often difficult if you lack a clear vision. If you are unaware of the current state of your organisation, you will not be able to bring it to a desired future state.

“If you are unclear of the vision, the drivers of change and the implementers will lack clarity as well.

“It will derail the entire initiative. If you come prepared with clear scope and a compelling narrative, it will lead to a smoother transition,’’ he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that NALT Club is an international non- profit men’s organisation formed to strengthen and improve communities through pursuing social justice and fair play by advocating for all people, regardless of background.

It is also promoting equity and anti-oppression and promoting accountability and stability in leadership, governance and public service. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

========

Edited by Isaac Aregbesola

By Ismail Abdulaziz

President Bola Tinubu has assured of his administration’s commitment to conclude a thorough review of the remuneration of judicial officers in the country.

Tinubu said this on Thursday when he received the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) led its president Yakubu Maikyau (SAN), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

A statement on Friday by Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, disclosed that the President said the battle against corruption required a comprehensive review of their salaries and allowances.

Tinubu added that the issue was well known to him, given his landmark success in reforming justice and administration in Lagos State when he was the state governor.

“We must deal with the review of remuneration if we truly want to fight corruption in the Judiciary. We will look at the cost as well as the consequences,” he said in response to a request by the NBA president.

Tinubu also acknowledged the importance of addressing the current vacancies within the Supreme Court, stressing that this represent obligations must be fulfilled based on recommendations by the National Judicial Council.

“Majority of them are on holiday now and when they return, we will take a look at what they have and we will fill the vacancies. It’s a fulfilment of an obligation,” he said.

The President thanked the NBA for extending an invitation to him to declare open the association’s 63rd Annual General Conference (AGC) coming up on Sunday in Abuja.

He expressed delight at having lawyers as close aides, including Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila, State Chief of Protocol Victor Adeleke and his Principal Private Secretary, Prince Damilotun Aderemi.

The NBA president in his remarks, commended the Tinubu  for appointing very distinguished members of the bar into his cabinet, including Lateef Fagbemi, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the annual NBA conference, with the theme:  “Getting It Right, Charting the Course for Nigeria’s Nation Building,” will hold from  Aug. 25 to  Sept. 1.

The AGC convenes legal experts, professionals and stakeholders to discuss critical issues regarding Nigeria’s national development.(NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Chioma Ugboma

By Jessica Dogo

The Chairman, Interfaith Coalition Conference, Mr Daniel Kadzai has urged President Bola Tinubu not to be distracted by a section of people kicking against some of his ministerial appointments.

Kadzai in a statement, on Friday in Abuja stated this in reaction to comments by some clerics attacking Tinubu on the recent appointed ministers.

He urged Nigerians to uphold the principle of unity knowing that the country belongs to all its citizens, regardless of religious, ethnic, or political affiliations.

Kadzai said that unity and cooperation among all regions were crucial to the nation’s progress and development.

“I want to congratulate Nigerians for having a government that is introducing dialogue in the process of selection and appointments.

“It shows that the South South has not been forgotten. I was so surprised that during the campaigns some people imputed issues of religious sentiment in the polity.

“Nigeria is recognised as a secular state. I do not see people coming out to protest against appointment, election and recruitment on the basis of religion or attacking people on the basis of ethnicity.

“I see 21st century Nigerians as looking for the progress of this nation. We should be able to come together because disaster, if occurred, will not spare an Igbo man, Hausa man or Yoruba man.

“Some people are castigating Mr President for appointing the Minister of FCT from Rivers State. This man is a Nigerian. God forbid that we have this mentality in this 21st century,” Kadzai said.

He urged Nigerians to stop talking about religion in governance, rather on how to salvage the nation and how the newly appointed ministers should serve Nigerians.

“Are we talking about religion or how to salvage the nation? The ministers should serve Nigerians.

“They are there to serve Nigerians. Not to enrich themselves. Not for their States, Local Governments or tribes.

“As a leader, you don’t come out to speak anyhow, ” he said.

Kadzai commended Tinubu and urged him to continue with the “Renewed Hope Agenda” for all Nigerians and build ties with North-Central, Northeast and Southeast.

He added: “Mr President, we note with delight your unprecedented efforts in bringing all factions of the people from diverse parts of Nigeria together irrespective of tribe and religious affiliations for the progress of our nation.” (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

================

Edited by Bashir Rabe Mani